Defining and Assessing Tolerance in Enteral Nutrition

Dietitian's approach to managing enteral nutrition intolerance when a formula change is indicated: A clinical practice survey

BACKGROUND

Enteral nutrition intolerance (ENI) is often defined as one or more gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms related to enteral nutrition (EN) and may have significant impact on patient outcomes. There are multiple strategies to help manage ENI, such as changing the EN formula. The objective of this practice survey was to understand prevalence of ENI, management of ENI symptoms, and EN formula features considered when changing formulas to manage ENI.

METHODS

Canadian clinical dietitians working across care settings (n = 4827) were invited to complete a 28-question online survey if involved in the management of adult and/or pediatric patients receiving EN.

RESULTS

Five hundred seventeen surveys were analyzed. Significantly more dietitians in adult vs pediatric settings (83.4% and 59.1%, respectively; P = 0.0012), reported ENI in <40% of patients. Assessing medications, elevating the head of the bed, and changing EN infusion rate, volume, or feeding regimen were the highest-ranked strategies to manage ENI symptoms. Most (>90%) respondents change the EN formula <50% of the time to manage ENI. Dietitians consider caloric density and protein form as the most important EN features to manage upper-GI symptoms vs fiber source, osmolality, and form of protein to manage lower-GI symptoms. EN with real-food ingredients was ranked higher in importance for managing upper- and lower-GI symptoms by dietitians in pediatric vs adult settings.

CONCLUSION

To manage ENI symptoms, dietitians consider multiple strategies before deciding to change the EN formula. When a formula change is indicated, dietitians consider different EN features for the management of upper- and lower-GI symptoms.

Understanding the Need for Tools and Resources to Manage Enteral Nutrition Intolerance: An On-line Survey

Purpose: Enteral nutrition intolerance (ENI) is a common complication among tube-fed patients, associated with reduced volumes of nutrition delivered, and may contribute to malnutrition risk. This research aimed to obtain insights about dietitians' needs and preferences related to tools and resources to help identify and manage ENI.Methods: An online survey was administered to registered dietitians (RD) engaged in enteral nutrition (EN) management, recruited from a list of attendees at a national webinar. The 16-question survey asked about participant's experience with ENI and interest in resources to manage ENI.Results: Of the 219 surveys completed (25% response rate), 86% identified ENI as an issue/concern that interferes with adequate nutrition or hydration for their patients. Ninety-seven percent reported being interested in having tools/resources to manage ENI. The symptoms identified as most pressing to manage were diarrhea (73%), bloating/abdominal discomfort (42%), and nausea (32%). Preferred types of tools were hard-copy resources (70%), algorithms (67%), and web-based instruments (62%).Conclusions: ENI remains an issue for clinicians working with tube-fed patients and RDs are interested in management tools. These results have implications for the development of evidence-based resources to help improve EN delivery and ultimately may contribute to clinician's efforts at reducing malnutrition.

Medical Foods: Science, Regulation, and Practical Aspects. Summary of a Workshop

On August 13-14, 2019, the Healthcare Nutrition Council and the ASN held the Medical Foods Workshop: Science, Regulation, and Practical Aspects. Medical food products help patients manage their disease and improve their quality of life. Yet many hurdles exist to getting patients new products. In this workshop, participants addressed some of these hurdles, with specific emphasis on topics like the statutory term distinctive nutritional requirements, the regulatory term modification of the diet alone, the role of clinical guidelines, the requirement that medical foods be used under medical supervision, and differentiation of foods for special dietary use from medical foods, as well as product innovation and future research. Real-world examples were discussed for intractable epilepsy, diabetes, end-stage renal disease, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Achieving Protein Targets in the ICU Using a Specialized High-Protein Enteral Formula: A Quality Improvement Project

BACKGROUND

To meet protein needs in critical illness (CI), guidelines suggest ≥1.2-2.5 g protein/kg/d; however, most intensive care unit (ICU) patients receive ≤0.7 g/kg/d. Higher protein enteral nutrition (EN) formulas may be part of the solution to provide prescribed protein. Our objective was to demonstrate that an EN formula with 37% protein can deliver ≥80% of prescribed protein, without overfeeding calories within the first 5 days of feeding and to describe ICU clinicians' experience.

METHODS

This quality improvement (QI) project included patients requiring exclusive EN for up to 5 days from 6 Canadian ICUs. Rationale for choosing formula, patient's BMI (kg/m² ), nutrition targets, daily protein and energy delivered, feeding interruptions, and general tolerance were recorded.

RESULTS

Forty-four of 49 patients received the formula ≥2 days. Average protein prescribed was 137.5 g/d (82.5-200) or 1.9 g/kg/d (1.5-2.5). Average protein delivered was 116.9 g/d (33.5-180) or 1.6 g/kg/d (0.4-2.4). Seventy-five percent to 83% of patients received ≥80% prescribed protein on days 2-5. Average energy prescribed was 1638.6 kcal/d (990-2500) or 17.8 kcal/kg (11-26). Average energy delivered was 1523.9 kcal/d (693.0-2557.5) or 17.3 kcal/kg/d (1.35-64.7). The formula was well tolerated with no gastrointestinal symptoms reported in 38 (86%) patients. The most common reasons to prescribe the formula were obesity and use of fat-based medications.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated in a QI study that a high-protein EN formula was tolerated in a small, heterogeneous group of ICU patients and effective in meeting protein targets without overfeeding.

Does abdominal massage improve gastrointestinal functions of intensive care patients with an endotracheal tube?: A randomized clinical trial

INTRODUCTION

Gastrointestinal dysfunction is one of the most common problems among patients hospitalized in intensive care units. Currently, medicinal and non-medicinal methods are being used to prevent gastrointestinal problems. Among non-medicinal methods, abdominal massage is considered as a relatively acceptable method. The present study aims to examine the effect of abdominal massage on gastrointestinal functions of the intensive care patients with an endotracheal tube.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this clinical trial, 70 intensive care patients with an endotracheal tube were chosen by convenience sampling and allocated to an intervention or a control group randomly. In the intervention group, a 15-min abdominal massage was conducted twice a day for three days, while the control group received only routine cares. The abdominal circumference, gastric residual volume, times of defecation, and frequency of constipation were measured.

RESULTS

Gastric residual volume decreased significantly in the intervention group and increased significantly in the control group; however, there was no significant difference between two groups (P = .15). There was a significant difference between two groups regarding abdominal circumference and it was decreased in the intervention group (P < .001). The defecation times significantly increased in the intervention group (P = .002). After the intervention, the prevalence of constipation was significantly decreased in the intervention group (P = .008).

CONCLUSION

The results revealed that abdominal massage could improve gastrointestinal functions in enterally fed patients with an endotracheal tube. It is suggested to use abdominal massage as an adjunct therapy for improving gastrointestinal functions in intensive care patients.

Enteral Nutrition and Drug Administration, Interactions, and Complications

The enteral route has become the standard of care to deliver nutrition support for hospitalized acute care and ambulatory care patients. The same access device is increasingly being used to deliver medications, which provides cost savings but also creates new challenges. Cost savings can be negated if the concomitant administration of nutrition elicits a decrease in bioavailability due to incompatibilities that alter drug or nutrition therapy. Feeding tubes can deliver nutrients and drugs to the stomach, small bowel, or both, with optimal efficacy of medications depending on delivery to the appropriate segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Liquid preparations are often the preferred formulation for enteral administration. Obstruction of the enteral access device may occur when specialized medication formulations are altered inappropriately. Occasionally, the enteral formula should be changed to modify the content of free water, fiber, electrolytes, or vitamins that may interfere with the drug therapy. Intolerance to enteral nutrition such as abdominal distention and diarrhea may be the result of the medication, and the causative agent should be identified to improve patient comfort. This article will address optimal drug delivery via enteral access devices and possible complications associated with therapy.

Protein-calorie adequacy of enteral nutrition therapy in surgical patients

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the protein-calorie adequacy of enteral nutrition therapy (ENT) in surgical patients.

METHODS

A prospective study was performed in surgical patients who received ENT from March to October 2011. Patients were evaluated anthropometrically and by subjective global assessment (SGA). The amount of calories and protein prescribed and administered were recorded daily, as well as the causes of discontinuation of the diet. A 90% value was used as the adequacy reference. The difference between the prescribed and administered amount was verified by Student's t-test.

RESULTS

A sample of 32 patients, aged 55.8 ± 14.9 years, showed a malnutrition rate of 40.6% to 71.9%, depending on the assessment tool used. Gastric cancer and gastrectomy were the most common diagnosis and surgery, respectively. Of the patients, 50% were able to meet their caloric and protein needs. The adequacy of the received diet in relation to the prescribed one was 88.9 ± 12.1% and 87.9 ± 12.2% for calories and proteins, respectively, with a significant difference (p < 0.0001) of 105.9 kcal/day and 5.5 g protein/day. 59.4% of the patients had adequate caloric intake and 56.2% had adequate protein intake. Causes of diet suspension occurred in 81.3%, with fasting for procedures (84.6%) and nausea/vomiting (38.5%) being the most frequently observed causes in pre- and postoperative periods, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Inadequate caloric and protein intake was common, which can be attributed to complications and diet suspensions during ENT, which may have hampered the sample reached their nutritional needs. This may contribute to the decline in the nutritional status of surgical patients, who often have impaired nutrition, as observed in this study.

[Enteral feeding of critical patients]

Artificial nutrition support forms part of the basic care of critical patients. Enteral feeding has been shown to be better than total parenteral nutrition at improving morbidity (infectious complications) and reducing the length of hospital stays, number of days with mechanical ventilation, and costs. As with any other treatment, enteral feeding has associated complications and side effects which should be understood and treated in order to obtain the greatest benefit from it and reduce possible adverse effects. In this review, we attempt to provide a practical summary of the use of enteral feeding in critical patients. We cover the management of the most frequent associated complications, based on new studies and current scientific evidence. The review is intended to serve as a practice guide for the routine care of severely ill patients.