Parenteral nutrition given to children and adults: experience of a procedure applied in Mexico.

Nutritional support is a critical step in caring for hospitalized patients both to avoid possible metabolic alterations that would worsen the patient's condition, or as a direct result of a particular disease. The purpose of the present study was to describe a procedure for the prescription of total parenteral nutrition (TPN), its administration, monitoring and the complications experienced in a third level hospital in Mexico, as applied to pediatric and adult patients given TPN. The study was carried out for a period of 30 months. TPN was prescribed according to the clinical status of patients. The study reviewed 4,000 parenteral nutrition records from January 2005 to June 2007 (30 months). Based on data here presented a guideline was applied to improve the nutritional support of patients as part of the need to ensure their recuperation during their hospitalization. We observed that TPN must be individualized, based on daily nutrient recommendations, which can be useful to assess the nutritional status of the hospitalized patient with diverse pathologies.