title: Nutrition in the pediatric population in the intensive care unit.
abstract: Nutrition is an essential component of patient management in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Poor nutrition status accompanies many childhood chronic illnesses. A thorough assessment of the critically ill child is required to inform the plan for nutrition support. Accurate and clinically relevant nutritional assessment, including growth measurements, provides important guidance. Indirect calorimetry provides the most accurate measurement of resting energy expenditure, but is too often unavailable in the PICU. To prevent inappropriate caloric intake, reassessment of the child's nutrition status is imperative. Enteral nutrition is the recommended route of intake. Human milk is preferred for infants.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program, Critical Care Department, School of Nursing, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 17 Ridings Way, Chadds Ford, PA 19317, USA; Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist Program, Critical Care Department, School of Nursing, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 17 Ridings Way, Chadds Ford, PA 19317, USA; Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist Program, Critical Care Department, School of Nursing, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 17 Ridings Way, Chadds Ford, PA 19317, USA. Electronic address: Jtv2526@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verger
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000628:therapy*; D002149:Energy Intake; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D009752:Nutritional Status; D018529:Nutritional Support; D010288:Parenteral Nutrition / Q000379:methods
keywords: Child; Critically ill child; Intensive care unit; Nutrition; Nutritional disorders