Nutritional awareness of critically ill surgical high-dependency patients.

It has been recognized that malnutrition in hospital is a serious problem that may go undetected. There is growing evidence that early nutritional support in high-risk patients helps reduce postoperative complications; however, malnutrition is often diagnosed only once it is well established. This study showed that, both retrospectively and prospectively; there were no formal nutritional assessments of patients in a high-dependency unit (HDU), that time to feeding was generally within the recommended 5-7 day postoperative period, and that the most common form of supplementary feeding was total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Prospectively, the choice of supplementary feeding was dependent on the type of surgery and the individual patient's condition. Since this study was completed, a dietician has been allocated to the HDU and carries out formal nutritional assessments on a daily basis. Further research is required to assess the impact of the dietician on patient nutrition.