Abstract
Background: Metabolic and nutritional status influences the condition of patients under mechanical ventilation (MV) and determines if they can be disconnected from the ventilator. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the effect of the planned Entera Meal solution on the duration of weaning patients and the length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Methods: In this clinical trial with a pre-test/post-test design, 42 patients admitted to the ICUs of Golestan and Imam Khomeini hospitals of Ahvaz, Iran, who were under MV, were randomly assigned to the two groups of control and intervention. In the intervention group, the Entera Meal solution was used for energy supply. The administration of the solution was started from 50 mL every 3 hours and was scaled up to 30 mL to reach the calculated energy within 48 - 72 hours. For the control group, routine homemade hospital solutions were used. Data were collected by demographic and medical information questionnaires and a checklist for recording outcomes. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 23. Results: The results showed that the length of ICU stay was significantly affected after the administration of the planned Entera Meal solution (P = 0.004). Although we observed that the duration of weaning patients from MV was shorter in the intervention group than in the control group, this difference was not statistically significant (5.23 ± 4.77 vs. 7.71 ± 6.14 days, P = 0.15). Conclusions: The planned Entera Meal solution reduced the length of ICU hospitalization but did not have a statistically significant effect on the duration of patients weaning from the ventilator.