| Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to identy the relationship between bolus feeding intervention and the effectiveness of prevented pulmonary aspiration | |||
| Learning Objective #2: assess the pulmonary aspiration index during bolus feeding |
This randomized, controlled study employed two feeding protocols for 107 participants in two intensive care unit (ICU)s of a medical center to investigate the efficacy of intermittent nasogastric (NG) feeding in preventing aspiration pneumonia in critically ill patients on ventilators.
Method:
The participants were randomly assigned to receive continuous (51 patients) or intermittent (56 patients) feeding. The primary outcomes, including gastric emptiness index and pulmonary aspiration index, were examined on Day 0 and Day 7 of the intervention. In addition, patients were followed up to the 21st day to evaluate the secondary outcomes, which included length of stay (LOS) in the ICU and airway status.
Results:
The results showed that the patients in the intermittent feeding group had a higher total intake volume at Day 7 (p= .000), had been extubated earlier at Day 21 (p= .002), and had a lower risk of aspiration pneumonia (odds ratios: .146, 95% CI .062 -.413, p= .000) than the patients in the control group. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups’ LOS.
Conclusion:
The results of this study provide evidence that clinical caregivers may use to make better decisions in terms of feeding methods for critically ill patients.
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