1. Consult medical nutrition therapy on all ICU patients for nutritional assessment and cooperative guidance on nutritional support.
2. Consider tele-consultation to next level of care if Medical Nutrition Therapy services are not available locally.
3. Enteral nutrition should be the first choice over total parenteral nutrition for the patients unable to consume food on their own. Enteral nutrition maintains gut mucosal integrity and immunocompetence.
4. When compared to parenteral nutrition, EN in appropriately selected patients has been associated with a decrease in infectious complications, decreased hospital length of stay and a significant reduction in ICU length of stay
5. It is important to note that the maximal benefit of enteral nutrition is obtained when it is started early (within 48 hours of admission) and that the benefit does not appear to be dose-dependent, so even low-rate (trickle) feeding can improve outcomes.1,2