Nutrition

Enteral nutrition 82Parenteral nutrition 84Immune-enhancing nutrition 86Nutrition is an important part of intensive care medicine. This may seem self-evident, but the lack of randomized controlled clinical trials to document the usefulness of nutrition in the ICU has been pointed out. The fact that nutrition may be associated with adverse effects has led to some authors to the point where they question the use of nutrition as such in the ICU. However, the majority of intensivists are in favour of providing nutrition for their patients, basically relating to the fact that sooner or later any individual will starve to death without nutrition. The controversy will then be when and how to provide nutrition for the patients. As for many different routines in the ICU, nutrition should also be protocolized, and exceptions from protocol should be rare and well motivated. The nutritional routines should be well known by everybody working in the unit, and everybody should be well informed and hopefully unanimous behind the rationale for the particular routines used....