Effectiveness of registered dietitian-led management of early nutritional support in the emergency intensive care unit: a retrospective observational study.

Background: Appropriate nutritional management in critically ill patients positively impacts prognosis. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a dietitian-led early enteral nutrition protocol in an intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: This retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data included patients who stayed in the emergency ICU (EICU) for at least 5 days between April 2021 and May 2022. Patients were divided into control and early support groups based on the implementation of the early enteral nutrition protocol in November 2021.

Results: The time to start enteral nutrition after admission was significantly shorter in the early support group (41.9 h) than in the control group (59.8 h). The early support group (n = 58) also had higher nutritional sufficiency rates than the control group (n = 56) and a lower incidence of diarrhea (10% vs. 37.5%).

Conclusions: The dietitian-led early nutritional support system effectively reduced the time to enteral nutrition initiation, improved nutritional sufficiency rates, and decreased the incidence of diarrhea in the EICU.