title: Attitudes toward the American nutrition guidelines for the critically ill patients of Chinese intensive care physicians.
abstract: Nutrition therapy is essential for the management of critically ill patients. Some guidelines have been published to standardize and optimize the nutrition therapy. However, there are still many controversies in nutrition practice and there is a gap between guidelines and clinical nutrition therapy for patients in intensive care units (ICUs). This study aimed to assess attitudes and beliefs toward nutrition therapy of Chinese intensive care physicians by using the American guidelines as a surrogate. A questionnaire was sent to 45 adult ICUs in China, in which surveyed physicians were asked to rate their attitudes toward the American guidelines. A total of 162 physicians from 45 ICUs returned the questionnaires. Physicians were categorized into groups according to their professional seniority, hospital levels and whether they were members of Chinese Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (CSPEN). Overall, 94% of the respondents thought that nutrition therapy for critically ill patients was very important, and 80% mentioned that they used the American guidelines. There was diversity of opinion on the recommendations pertaining to nutrition assessment, supplemental parenteral nutrition and cutoff values for gastric residual volume, negative or neutral attitudes about these recommendations were 43%, 59% and 41%, respectively. Members of CSPEN were more likely to select a greater strength of recommendation than non-members. In conclusion, the overall attitudes of Chinese intensive care physicians toward the American guidelines were positive. Nevertheless, given the great guideline-practice gap, nutrition-focused education is warranted for many intensive care physicians in China.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Medicine School of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.|Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Medicine School of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-ling
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Medicine School of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Email: jiancangzhou@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jian-cang
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Medicine School of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Kong-han
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Medicine School of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hong-chen
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Medicine School of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ke-jing
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ying
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002681:China; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods*; D016638:Critical Illness; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D044623:Nutrition Therapy / Q000379:methods; D018529:Nutritional Support; D010820:Physicians; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012955:Societies, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States