Enteral Nutrition Delivery Is Overestimated in Provider Documentation

Burn-injured patients have the highest metabolic demand of all critically ill patients and are vulnerable to complications of malnutrition. Many burn centers have challenges in achieving prescribed rates of nutrition, despite aggressive algorithms. One possible reason for the discrepancy is inaccurate documentation of volumes. This is a retrospective review of patients requiring tube feeding admitted to a regional burn center between June and August 2015. Demographics were abstracted including gender, type of injury, TBSA, and age. The total feeding volume was recorded from the feeding pump every 24 hours. The values were compared with the enteral nutrition volume charted by the nursing staff and rate prescribed by the physician team. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare continuous variables. Twenty-five patients were observed during the study period providing a total of 105 patient days. The average age was 44 years with 42% TBSA mean burn size. The average volume prescribed by providers was 1,598 ml/d. According to documentation, the average volume given was 1,448 ml/d, a significant difference (P =