ABSTRACT
Nutrition is easily overlooked in the daily review of critically ill patients but is crucial to their ability to survive acute illness. Malnutrition is common in the critically ill and leads to reduced muscle bulk and power, which can lead to impaired respiratory and cardiac function, immune dysfunction, anaemia, gut mucosal atrophy, poor wound healing, reduced cognitive function, poor sleep pattern and depression. It is important to remember that fluid need not be administered intravenously and may be administered via the nasogastric tube as water. A multidisciplinary approach to nutritional support in intensive care unit (ICU) is standard with thorough assessment by dieticians and collateral history from relatives. Enteral feeding can be provided by nasogastric (NG), post-pyloric, nasojejunal (NJ) or percutaneous gastrostomy tube. Post-pyloric feeding is favoured in those individuals with gastroparesis and may be provided by weighted or 'hooked' tubes with radiological confirmation or endoscopically placed 'double-lumen' NG/NJ tubes.
