Nutrition and acute lung injury in critical care: Focus on nutrition care process

Acute lung injury (ALI) remains a significant source of morbidity and mortality in patients hospitalized in critical care units. Nutrition therapy can play a critical role in the management of patients with ALI. The nutrition care process for ALI patients involves nutrition screening, nutrition assessments, nutrition interventions, and monitoring of nutritional parameters. Nutrition screening can help identify patients early in the hospitalization who have existing nutrition deficits, so timely assessment and intervention can take place.Consequences of nutrition-related issues such as malnutrition and catabolism can be profound in this population; therefore, nutrition assessments to estimate energy and protein requirements are an integral part of patient management. Nutrition interventions in this patient population are targeted at preventing cumulative calorie deficits; identifying, preventing, and treating malnutrition; avoiding loss of lean body mass and the resulting deterioration of respiratory muscle strength; and modulating the inflammatory response associated with ALI. The careful monitoring of nutritional parameters in ALI patients is critical in order to quantify the progress made toward meeting the goals of nutrition therapy.