title: Parenteral nutrition support: Beyond gut feeling? Quality control study of parenteral nutrition practices in a Tertiary Care Hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Enteral nutrition (EN) is preferred over parenteral nutrition (PN) in hospitalized patients based on International consensus guidelines. Practice patterns of PN in developing countries have not been documented.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess practice pattern and quality of PN support in a tertiary hospital setting in Chennai, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective record review of patients admitted between February 2010 and February 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 351,008 patients were admitted to the hospital in the study period of whom 29,484 (8.4%) required nutritional support. About 70 patients (0.24%) received PN, of whom 54 (0.18%) received PN for at least three days. Common indications for PN were major gastrointestinal surgery (55.6%), intolerance to EN (25.9%), pancreatitis (5.6%), and gastrointestinal obstruction (3.7%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proportion of patients receiving PN was very low. Quality issues were identified relating to appropriateness of indication and calories and proteins delivered. This study helps to introspect and improve the quality of nutrition support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Nagarajan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ramakrishnan
authors.affiliation: Department of Dietetics, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Bhuvaneshwari
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shankar
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Lakshmi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ranganathan
authors.affiliation: Department of Dietetics, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Daphnee
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Adithya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bharadwaj
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Venkataraman
keywords: Critical illness; hospitalized patients; parenteral nutrition; quality control