Why NUTRIC? Up to half of patients in the ICU are malnourished, and clinical practice guidelines suggest that all critically ill patients who stay in ICU for more than 24 hours should be regarded as at high risk for malnutrition. In order to identify and track patients with nutritional risk, nutritional assessment is essential. Various…
Don’t rush to crush When patients have enteral feeding tubes in place it is often considered convenient to use the tube to give medications. However, co-administration of drugs in this way to patients receiving enteral nutrition can be problematic for several reasons. Manipulating the physical structure of medications (crushing, dissolving, diluting etc) to pass them…
Plans are underway to introduce prescribing rights for dietitians in South Africa – something eagerly awaited by clinical dietitians, especially those in hospital-based practice. Currently, dietitians are at liberty to prescribe products which are unscheduled (schedule 0), which includes macronutrient modules, oral nutrition supplements, enteral feeds and most vitamin preparations. In fact, all medicines scheduled…
Calculating the Medical Nutrition Therapy prescription in the ICU should incorporate consideration of all contributors to macronutrients and calories. This includes the IV propofol used for sedation. Propofol, being highly lipid soluble, is formulated within an intravenous lipid emulsion and therefore contributes to the recommended maximum dose of lipid to be infused. Since propofol is frequently…
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