Objectives: Optimal nutrition is associated with positive outcomes in critically ill children. In 2017, the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) updated guidelines for nutritional support for this population. However, implementation of these guidelines may be delayed due to clinical barriers. We aimed to assess our practice against the recommendations of the ASPEN guidelines, hypothesizing that caregiver bias and clinical factors may hinder their implementation in our pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

Methods: We focused on two ASPEN recommendations: (1) feeding within 48 h (48H) of admission and (2) meeting two thirds of estimated caloric requirements after seven calendar days. All children aged 1 month to 16 years admitted to our PICU from July 2017 to January 2020 were eligible. Using a retrospective chart review, nutritional and clinical data were collected at the time of admission, at 48H, and 7 calendar days after admission.

Results: A total of 533 patients were included. After 48H of admission to the PICU, 402 out of 533 (75.4%) patients received feeding. The following factors were associated with not reaching nutritional goals at 48H: invasive ventilation support, inotropic and vasoactive support, and extracorporeal life support. After 7 days, 95 out of 118 (80.5%) received two thirds of caloric needs. At 7 days, the main obstacle to meeting caloric goals was invasive ventilation.

Conclusion: In a representative tertiary PICU, barriers to meeting ASPEN nutritional recommendations included hemodynamic instability or invasive ventilator support, especially within the first 48H of admission.