[Assessment of the clinical quality indicator "early enteral nutrition" in intensive care units].

BACKGROUND

Early enteral nutrition (EN) offers multiple benefits on critically ill patients and its monitoring was established as a clinical quality indicator (CQI) for intensive care units (ICU) by the Spanish Society of Critical Care (SEMICYUC). However, no results have been published on the systematized monitoring of this CQI.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the compliance of the CQI "Early EN" at ICU.

METHODS

A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted on 386 consecutive ICU patients receiving EN. Data were collected including time from admission until EN was started, as well as clinical results. SPSS statistics software was used for analysis and the CQI was assessed according to SEMYCIUC criteria.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

CQI's compliance was 70.2%, not reaching the settled standard of 100%. Barriers preventing CQI compliance ought to be analyzed and its standard of 100% reconsidered.