Are we meeting the calorific and protein requirement needed in the intensive care setting?

Methods We collected retrospective data from 50 consecutive intensive care patients from July to November 2014. The inclusion criterion was patient’s receiving ≥7 days of prescribed enteral/parenteral feed. Data collected included; patient demographics, type and amount of feed given and total propofol administered in the same period. 3 patients were excluded due to no weight recorded. We calculated the calorie and protein goal per patient for the 7 day period according to guidelines. [1,2] We then worked out each patient total intake and expressed that as a percentage of the goal target; therefore comparing our practice to the standards. The calories calculated included those provided in propofol. ASPEN guidelines suggest delivery of >50 to 65% of goal calories (GC) in their first week. GC in the acute phase is 25 kcal/kg/day. For patients with BMI of < 30, GC was calculated from actual body weight whereas with BMI >30, GC was calculated from ideal body weight. For protein intake ESPEN and ASPEN both recommend 1.5 g/ kg/day for BMI < 30.2 g for 30-40, 2.5 g for >40.