Background:

Malnutrition is particularly prevalent among intensive care unit (ICU) patients, being associated with poor clinical results. Enteral nutrition (EN) offers multiple benefits on critically ill patients and its monitoring was established by the Spanish Society of Critical Care (SEMICYUC) as a clinical quality indicator (CQI; EN patients correctly monitorized / all EN patients, as %). However, no results have been published on its regulated monitoring.

Objectives:

Assessing CQI's compliance, identifying difficulties and possibilities for its use.

Methods:

In a recent 18-month period, the CQI was assessed in ICU patients following SEMYCIUC criteria.

Results and conclusion:

This CQI, although offered as a unique indicator, has different components, giving rise to multiple results. The settled standard (100%) was only reached by some of these components, i.e.: feeding tube position control plus verification of vomiting, regurgitation and aspiration. We propose to elaborate a daily checklist, including the different components that integrate this CQI, for its joint completion by nurses and physicians for all patients receiving EN.

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