ABSTRACT
Delivery of nutritional support is an essential component of caring for the critically ill patient. The pros and cons of enteral and parenteral nutrition have been discussed in previous chapters. This chapter will focus on the critically ill patient requiring total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and the factors involved in determining which access device and access site are most appropriate. TPN solutions are hypertonic and must be administered into high flow areas of the central venous circulation. For this reason, administering TPN would be more difficult without the advances made in central venous access over the past 50 years.
