Patients who are recovering from surgery have diverse needs. That is why there is such a need for nutrition support after surgery to assure that patients have the nutritional resources to transition to a recovery period properly. This is especially true in the case of gastrointestinal procedures. The nutritional depletion that is part of that kind of surgery can be a major drawback to recovery. That depletion is natural in light of the reduced nutritional consumption before surgery, the stress of the procedure, and the increased metabolic activity that occurs during surgery.

As a result, the discipline of nutritional support therapy has developed to fill that void. For many years, there was a prevailing belief that intravenous nutrition support just after surgery was harmful to the recuperation process. But that approach to providing nutrition to a postoperative patient has changed with recent studies that show that the introduction of nutritional support quickly not only does not introduce a threat to recovery, it speeds the process and reduces the chances of postoperative infections.

The extent of nutritional deprivation in patients going into surgery is becoming better understood. Nutritional support for these patients is especially important because we are now coming to understand the extent of nutritional depletion that may have already been going on before the patient came to the hospital for treatment. Good nutritional support caregivers can evaluate if the lack of nutrition in a patient may represent a threat before surgery and take appropriate action. This preemptive nutritional support enables the patient to do better both during and after surgery is completed because their nutritional needs were attended to in an appropriate way.

Medical professionals providing nutritional support have a variety of means to administer the treatments. Nutrition can be introduced into the patient’s system via tube feeding, for example. This approach is called enteral nutrition. This is a highly effective form of nutrition support because the level of nutrients can be specifically tailored for each patient to support their state of treatment or recovery.

The continued advancement of the science of nutrition support has made a significant contribution to the quality of care that is given to patients before, during, and after surgery. We can expect the quality of medical care to continue to improve as well and to see the influence of nutrition support in advancing medical care significantly.

http://www.nutritioncare.org/Index.aspx?id=108

http://www.nutritionj.com/content/2/1/18