Outcomes of a Computer Program for Energy, and Nutrients Intakes for Critical Surgical Patients - ผลของการใช้โปรแกรมคอมพิวเตอร์คำนวณพลังงานและสารอาหารสำหรับผู้ป่วยวิกฤตศัลยกรรม

Abstract

The surgical patients are at risk of malnutrition, especially in intensive care unit, as their energy
intakes are inappropriate comparing with estimated daily caloric requirement. The author applied
new a program computer to calculate the appropriate daily caloric requirement based on Harris-
Benedict and Estimated factor. This was cross-sectional study with the objective of nutritional
assessment of critical surgical patients by the computer program in 75 intensive care unit patients in
Samut Sakhon Hospital between 1 January and 31 March 2012. There were only 13.3 and 9.3 percent
of patients respectively who received appropriate nutrition and energy. The differences between
the actual and the estimated energy were statistically significant when analyzed with pairedsample
t-test (p <0.001). Others were either underfeeding or overfeeding patients.
Application of this simple calculating tool might be useful for the doctors and nutritional team
in appropriate nutritional adjustment for better patient care and outcomes.
Key words: computer program, malnutrition, overfeeding, underfeeding, caloric requirement, received calory