Pediatric Critical Care Nutrition
FIRST international study of Nutrition Therapy in the PICU - now completed!
Over 30 centers from 12 countries participated in this unique effort to examine nutrition practices at the bedside in critically ill mechanically ventilated patients in the PICU. Over 525 patients were enrolled and detailed nutritional data were recorded using a remote data capture tool, by dieticians. The unique collaborative approach examined variables that describe current international practices related to assessment of nutritional requirements, mode of intake, barriers to enteral nutrition, supportive strategies utilized for intolerence, etc. Outcomes such as adequacy of caloric and protein intake, incidence of hospital acquired infections were examined in relation to achieving nutritional goals.
The results are illuminating and highlight several practice and knowledge gaps. The observations have allowed more focused investigations to be conducted. Participating PICUs have received a benchmarking, individualized site-report, which allows comparison of practice at each center with the rest of the international cohort. This is expected to set up a series of quality improvement initiatives at individual sites. The next phase of this collaborative effort is planned for May 11, 2011 and is expected to address more focused areas of nutritional practice.
Future collaborative efforts based on the results of this study will hopefully lead to practice improvements in this key (and neglected) area of critical care. We wish to extend an invitation to Centers with 8 or more PICU beds to join us for the next phase in 2011. We sincerely hope that we can look forward to working with you on this unique and exciting venture. Please contact Lori Bechard for more information (lori.bechard@childrens.harvard.edu).
Sites who have obtained ethics approval for the 2nd International Study of Nutrition Therapy in the PICU (PINS 2011) may access the web based tool here:
TEST site: https://ceru.hpcvl.queensu.ca/Dev_P
*Note – do not enter real data in the Test site.
LIVE site: https://ceru.hpcvl.queensu.ca/CCN_P
*Note – do not begin entering data in the Live site until you have obtained ethics approval or May 11, 2011, whichever is later.
Download PINS 2011 instruction manual
