Critical Care Societies Collaborative – Critical Care
View all recommendations from this societyUpdated July 2022
Don’t delay providing nutrition, preferring enteral over parenteral, to critically ill patients during the first 24-36 hours of a critical illness.
Two large multicenter trials compared early (within 24-36 hours of ICU admission) enteral nutrition with parenteral nutrition and clinical outcomes related to mortality (30-day, ICU, hospital and 90-day), length of stay (ICU and hospital), and infections (pneumonia and bacteremia) were not significantly different. Based on more recent, higher quality data, parenteral nutrition should not be avoided regardless of nutrition risk.
These items are provided solely for informational purposes and are not intended as a substitute for consultation with a medical professional. Patients with any specific questions about the items on this list or their individual situation should consult their physician.
How The List Was Created
This document was prepared as an initiative of the Critical Care Societies Collaborative, which includes the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Thoracic Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Each of these four societies was invited to nominate up to three members to join the taskforce. The final taskforce included 10 members representing all four societies and the disciplines of internal medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine and critical care nursing. Taskforce members initially proposed 58 items for consideration. The taskforce evaluated each item on five criteria (evidence, prevalence, cost, relevance, innovation), and agreed to narrow the list to 16 items. The taskforce debated the conceptual merits of these 16, and selected nine in which to pursue in-depth evidence reviews and consultations with external content experts. Taskforce members then independently scored each item on a scale from 1-9, rating each item on its overall impact as well as on each of the five criteria. The five items with the best mean overall scores were retained in the “penultimate” list. The taskforce then reviewed and edited the wording of items on the penultimate list, and submitted it to the 4 societies’ executive committees. The executive committees sought feedback from additional experts in the field, debated the items, and provided written comments to the taskforce. The taskforce deliberated and incorporated these suggestions where appropriate to create the final list, resolving any conflicts through discussion. All four societies endorsed the final list.
Members of the taskforce were: Scott D. Halpern, MD, PhD (Chair), Deborah Becker, PhD, RN, J. Randall Curtis, MD, MPH, Robert Fowler, MD, Robert Hyzy, MD, Jeremy M. Kahn, MD, MSc, Lewis Kaplan, MD, Nishi Rawat, MD, Curtis Sessler, MD and Hannah Wunsch, MD, MSc.
The disclosure and conflict of interest policies for the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, American College of Chest Physicians, the American Thoracic Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine can be found at www.accn.org, www.chestnet.org,www.thoracic.org and www.sccm.org respectively.
Sources
Harvey SE, Parrott F, HarrisonDA, et al. Trial of the route of early nutritional support in critically ill adults. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(18):1673-1684.
Reignier J, Boisrame-Helms J, Brisard L, et al. Enteral versus parenteral early nutrition in ventilated adults with shock: a randomised, controlled, multicentre, open-label, parallel-group study (NUTRIREA-2). Lancet. 2018;391(10116):133-143
Compher C, Bingham AL, McCall M, et al. Guidelines for the provision of nutrition support therapy in the adult critically ill patient: The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2022;1–30.
