Maintaining adequate hydration and nutrition in adult enteral tube feeding

Predicting the nutritional and fluid requirements of enterally-fed patients can be challenging and the practicalities of ensuring adequate delivery must be taken into consideration. Patients who are enterally fed can be more reliant on clinicians, family members and carers to meet their nutrition and hydration needs and identify any deficiencies, excesses or problems with delivery. Estimating a patient's requirements can be challenging due to the limitations of using predictive equations in the clinical setting. Close monitoring by all those involved in the patient's care, as well as regular review by a dietitian, is therefore required to balance the delivery of adequate feed and fluids to meet each patient's individual needs and prevent the complications of malnutrition and dehydration. Increasing the awareness of the signs of malnutrition and dehydration in patients receiving enteral tube feeding among those involved in a patient's care will help any deficiencies to be detected early on and rectified before complications occur.