Acid Base Balance for the ICU Dietitian

Course overview

ABG interpretation, ventilatory settings, bicarbonate buffer system and importance of maintaining normal pH will be described. Application of those fundamental concepts will be applied to identifying ICU patients with measurable complications or high risk to develop complications of overfeeding. Patients at low risk of complication of overfeeding will be described to facilitate discrimination between the two groups since objective measurements of energy expenditure are rarely available in todays health care environment. Estimation of energy and protein and fluid goals based upon factors such as body composition, magnitude of physiological stress, and function of organ systems will be explored and compared with ASPEN guidelines. Hemodynamic instability as a contra-indication to enteral feeding will be described.