[Use of enteral nutrition products in a general hospital]

The present work aims to study the use of enteral nutrition (EN) products during the period between October 1996 and January 1997, in a general hospital with a nutrition unit. The EN expenditure ascended to 3,343,475 Pesetas, with the supplements representing the greatest cost percentage (39.1%). An indication-prescription study was carried out by reviewing 120 clinical histories of patients who had received EN during that period. The patients originated in different departments of the hospital, excluding the ICU, chronic patients, pediatrics, and palliative care. Data regarding sex, age, diagnosis, diet used, calories/day given, route of administration, and selection criterion for the diet were analysed. The average age of the patients was 64.59 years. The most common diagnoses were solid tumors (32.5% of the cases), followed by cerebrovascular accidents (16.7% of the cases). The most commonly used EN preparation was the Pentadrink hypercaloric diet (36.7% of the cases), followed by the standard diet (25.8%). The route of administration used most frequently was the oral route in 63.3% of the cases. The calories/day given varied per diet, with this being 886 cal for the hypercaloric diet, and 1,839 cal for the standard diet. Among the criteria for selecting an EN diet 50% of the patients had abnormal protein metabolism and a normal digestive capacity with slight or moderate stress, 12.5% were diabetic; and the remainder presented other criteria that influenced the choice for a specific type of EN diet. From the analysis of the results it is clear that Pentadrink is used as a supplement, and that there are patients with a sometimes insufficient caloric supply.