Nurses Practices Related to Enteral and Parenteral Nutritional Therapy for Unconscious Patients

Background: Enteral nutrition reduces the mortality rate and prevents the development of pressure sores. Specific complications with parenteral nutrition, particularly in unconscious patients, include line sepsis and fluid and electrolyte imbalance. This is important because parenteral nutrition reduces the duration of unconscious patients' hospital stay. Objectives: 1. Assess Nurses’ practice regarding unconscious patients’ nutrition. 2. Identify the demographical characteristics of studied population. 3. Find out the relations between practices of nurses and their demographical and employment characteristics. Methodology: A descriptive – observational study design is the choice to study a specific phenomenon of interest regarding assessing nurses practices regarding enteral and parenteral nutritional therapy from period between (November 2022- July 2024). Non-probability convenient sample of (125) nurses who work in the intensive care units were selected. This study conducted in the intensive care units which located at three teaching hospitals in Al-Hilla city- Iraq. Results: The data reveals that the majority, 55.2%, fall within the 20-30 year age range. Interestingly, the sex distribution is nearly equal with 52% males and 48% females. The result recorded the major of study sample were poor level of practice regarding enteral and parenteral nutritional therapy for unconscious patients. Conclusion: There is a substantial need for improvement in nursing practices related to ENT, such as nutritional assessment, equipment preparation, and adherence to protocols.