Critical Care Nutrition
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 Until earlier today, I didn't know about this valuable site -- it's Canadian, too -- for critical care dietitians and physicians. I discovered Critical Care Nutrition (CCN) by responding to a request to complete a survey. I don't have a good excuse for my ignorance other than, from habit, I've always turned to A.S.P.E.N., and more recently, ESPEN for nutrition support practice guidelines.
Now that I've found CCN, I'll be adding the link to my Connotea library and sharing it here, with a brief introduction and description to guide your exploration of this site.
CCN's team consists of physicians and dietitians "dedicated to the improvement in nutrition therapies in intensive care units across the world." The site's resources include downloadable, adaptable:
- Evidence-based Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines in three formats: full-text Journal of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition (JPEN) article (2003), protocol, and summary of recommendations.
- Tools & Training Kit (protocols, algorithms, flowcharts) consisting of (i) a Manual of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Nutrition Support in Mechanically-Ventilated, Adult Critically Ill Patients (ii) Glycemic Control for Adult Intensive Care Patients, (iii) Order Sets, and (iv) a Training Kit for an Interactive Workshop.
Another feature is a discussion forum, although its activity seems to be quite low at present.
CCN definitely is a site worth exploring if you are a dietitian looking after critically-ill patients.
Reader Comments (2)
I credit our clinical nutrition teachers at McGill for keeping us up-to-date on a lot of the latest research. For our recent exam on tube feeds, we were actually guided to the tools offered by this side to learn the standard guidelines for enteral and parenteral nutrition.
It really is very useful for a student like myself who is still trying to wrap her head around all the possible scenarios. I have no doubt that I'll be using this site religiously if I get a critical care rotation in my internship!
This is good to hear, Jessica. This week I have a dietetic intern with me and shared the site with her. I think on this site there are some tools that apply across all enteral feeding settings, whether critical care or long-term care. I will be exploring it more closely.