Total parenteral nutrition: A four-year audit

Abstract

Abstract A four-year audit was carried out on 278 patients who received 289 courses of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) over 5213 patient days in a Saudi Arabian hospital. One hundred and forty-seven patients were discharged healthy, two of these after home TPN. The overall mortality was 36 per cent. ICU patients had the highest mortality (53 per cent). Among the survivors, 74·8 per cent showed an improvement in nutritional status. The incidences of metabolic complications and catheter sepsis were 2·9 per cent and 3·6 per cent, respectively. As a direct result of the audit, changes have been made in protocols and staffing patterns, and an attempt is being made to address the major problem of better selection of patients.