Quality of nutritional support in critically ill patients. An interdisciplinary view

Introduction: as part of an interdisciplinary project, the actions taken by different healthcare professionals (doctors and nurses) over the quality of critical patients’ nutritional support were addressed at a private institution. Objective: to determine the impact of the prescribed nutritional intake and the records of medical and nursing professionals on the quality of nutritional support; anthropometric, biochemical, clinical indicators, and medical and nursing records were identified. Methods: an explanatory, cross-sectional, observational / non-experimental, retrospective, qualitative and quantitative research study with n = 34. An observation tool created ad hoc was used for approaching the clinical charts of patients with variables in sociodemographic data, nutritional screening, medical and nursing records, and quality in nutritional support. Results: the results have shown a high level of “no record” fields within both types of healthcare professionals. It is hence inferred that there were no regulations regarding the restoration and enhancement of the nutritional status at the institution under study. Additionally, it is deduced that each professional goes through a documentation process which frames and makes visible the relationship to the records of the medical and nursing professionals. The absence of regulations was rated as a latent variable (non-observable). Conclusions: the impact on the quality of the prescribed nutritional intake and their relationship to the records of medical and nursing professionals could be determined. The absence of regulations was rated as a latent variable (non-observable)