Biomedical subjects
Susan Holmes
Publications and source records attributed to Susan Holmes.
Undernutrition in hospital patients.
Undernutrition is a serious condition affecting significant numbers of patients in hospital. It increases the risk of mortality, delays recovery and increases the cost of hospitalisation. The prevention of undernutrition in hospital patients should be a priority for all healthcare professionals and requires a collaborative multidisciplinary approach.
Enteral feeding and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.
Many patients are unable to eat and others are malnourished. Such patients need nutritional support, and enteral feeding offers one way of providing such support. It may be needed for a short time during acute or critical illness or for prolonged periods in chronic illness. Short-term feeding is usually given through a nasogastric tube, while permanent feeding access is indicated for long-term feeding, most commonly through a gastrostomy. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is a minimally invasive technique for placing a feeding tube and causing minimal discomfort. This article reviews enteral feeding focusing on PEG and considers the after care and complications of this method of feeding.