Nutrition Support and Transition of Care Series Part 1: Transitioning off Nutrition Support and the Use of Oral Supplements

The transition off nutrition support is an important part of medical nutrition therapy and must be given special attention to decrease the risk of malnutrition and/or prevent malnutrition. Meeting nutritional requirements and ensuring adequate tolerance to nutrition support is essential when a patient is transitioning from parenteral to enteral nutrition as well as enteral nutrition to an oral diet. Additionally, making the transition out of the intensive care unit to the general hospital ward and eventually to the home setting requires closely monitoring the patient to prevent complications that may be associated with nutrition support and nutritional deficiencies. This webinar, the first of a two-part series will focus on these issues in the adult patient.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the importance of adequate and safe transitions from enteral and parenteral nutrition to an oral diet
  
• Outline approaches to successfully transition patients from nutrition support to achieving optimal oral intake
  
• Identify and address challenges in achieving adequate nutrient intake during transition from the intensive care unit to the ward setting
  
• Identify patients who could benefit from nutritional supplementation, before, during and after hospitalization
  
• Describe clinical scenarios where nutritional supplementation has shown positive clinical benefit