ABSTRACT
In considering nutrition, the first order of business upon admission to the ICU is to assess the underlying nutritional status of the patient and the breadth and location of injuries and illness. The baseline nutritional assessment involves clinical consideration of any pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus, previous dietary, and activity habits, and potential for nutritional deficiencies such as those common with alcoholism. Next, the patient should be examined for evidence of nutritional vitamin or mineral deficiencies, and then for long-term pathologic conditions associated with substrate utilization, such as emaciation or obesity. Then, acute anatomic and physiologic changes associated with the nature of the operation(s) and/or traumatic injuries that the patient has sustained must be considered. From these assessments, some notion of specific nutrients that should be provided in addition to those typically given is attained.
