Artificial nutrition support

Malnutrition remains common in the UK despite medical advances, with 40% of adult inpatients being at risk of malnutrition on admission to hospital and many weighing less on discharge than on admission. It is widely acknowledged that malnutrition leads to poorer clinical outcomes, longer length of stay, increased complications and increased morbidity and mortality compared with a well-nourished state. This emphasizes the importance of screening for malnutrition and implementing a comprehensive nutritional care plan to help mitigate the risk and manage the patient's nutritional status effectively. While most patients' nutritional needs can be met with dietary modifications and oral nutritional supplements, a proportion of individuals require artificial nutrition support via enteral tube feeding (through the gastrointestinal tract) or parenteral route (intravenous feeding) due to the underlying nature of their disease process. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the various types of artificial nutrition support and outline the specific considerations that should be addressed when developing an artificial nutrition treatment strategy. It provides an overview of the approach to decision-making and highlights the multi-professional nature of such decisions, emphasizing the value of having a comprehensive and experienced nutrition support team to help guide and support decision-making.