Evaluation of nutrition support practices: Results from a nationwide survey

Background: Multiple clinical guidelines are available to improve and standardize the delivery of nutrition support. However, recommendations are not being universally applied at the bedside due to challenges of resources and barriers of knowledge. Assessing the current level of nutrition support practice is the first step to understand the barriers and ultimately implement potential strategies to increase guideline adherence and promote quality nutrition support in hospitals. There are no published data concerning the practice of nutrition support in Lebanese hospitals.

Objectives: The objective of our study is to investigate for the first time the current clinical practice pertinent to nutrition support across Lebanon.

Methods: A survey was developed by The Nutrition Board of the Lebanese Society of Critical Care Medicine (LSCCM) to determine nutrition support practices in hospitals with an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) across Lebanon. The 28-question survey assesses the delivery of feeding methods such as oral nutrition supplements (ONS), enteral nutrition (EN), and parenteral nutrition (PN).

Results: Fourty-one hospitals from 116 total completed the survey. The majority of the hospitals (92.6%) do not systematically use a screening system for malnutrition. Seventy six percent of hospitals reported less than 5% of their patients are kept for more than 7 days with no nutrition support. Early EN is used in preference over PN in ICUs, as 72% of hospitals start early EN (within 48 h) in more than 10% of cases while only 30% of hospitals start early PN (within the first week) in more than 10% of cases. Fifty-one percent of the hospitals use ready prepared formula while the rest (49%) use kitchen prepared formula.

Conclusions: Our study is the first of its kind in Lebanon aiming at describing the current clinical practice in nutrition support at a national level. Working toward the use of a nutritional screening tool on admission and the exclusive use of ready made formula for enteral feeding will have the most significant and immediate impact on improving quality of nutritional care for hospitalized patients. This can be achieved mainly through the education of the concerned staff.