Prescription and intake of protein in children admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) due to major gastrointestinal surgery.

Introduction: Studies show that more than 25% of patients admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) suffer from acute or chronic malnutrition at the time of admission. Providing the sufficient protein a child needs in the ICU can reduce the risk of mortality, infection, ventilator dependence, and length of stay in the ICU. This study aims to describe the gap between protein prescription and actual intake in children admitted to the ICU due to major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This study was prospective. The audit was carried out at the Akbar Children's Hospital, Mashhad, Iran in October 2018. The inclusion criteria were as follows: 1: Ages between 1 month and 10 years old, 2: Admission to the ICU due to being under serious medical conditions, 3: ICU length of stay > 24 h, 4: Admission to the PICU following gastrointestinal surgeries. The audit was performed over four weeks. Results: Thirty children were included in this audit. In terms of gender, 54% were girls. The average height in both of them (boys and girls) was 58 cm. The average weight was 4.8 kg for girls and 5.1 kg for boys. The average prescribed daily protein intake was 1.8 ± 0.5 gr/Kg/d. The average delivered daily protein intake was 1.8 ± 0.4 gr/Kg/d. The results showed that 83.3% of the children in the audit achieved nutritional adequacy during PICU stay. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it can be stated that the amount of protein intake and administration for children admitted to the PICU was not in the acceptable range. This study can be a model for future studies to improve nutrition services for patients admitted to the intensive care unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]