Abstract:

Objective To explore the effects of establishing a nutrition support specialty nurse position in the intensive care unit（ICU） on the nutritional management of critically ill patients. Methods A nutrition support specialty nurse position was established in the ICU，with clear admission criteria，performance，and assessment standards. The work practice content was determined based on the core competence framework for advanced practice nurses. Using convenience sampling，ICU patients who received enteral nutrition from August 2023 to September 2023 were selected as the control group，and those who received enteral nutrition from May 2024 to June 2024 were selected as the experimental group. The control group received nutritional management provided by the responsible nurses，while the experimental group received nutritional management jointly provided by the specialized position nutrition support specialty nurse and the responsible nurses. The incidence of feeding complications，the time to achieve feeding goals，blood glucose levels，and the length of ICU stay were compared between the two groups. Results The incidence of feeding complications in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group（ χ²=13.050，P<0.001），and the time to achieve feeding goals was shorter（t=2.823，P=0.005）. The blood glucose level in the experimental group was better than that in the control group（t=2.995，P=0.003）. There were no statistically significant differences in the coefficient of variation of blood glucose（Z=-1.392，P=0.164） or the length of ICU stay （t=0.688，P=0.493） between the two groups. Conclusion The establishment and practice of a nutrition support specialty nurse position in the ICU can reduce the incidence of feeding complications in critically ill patients，shorten the time to achieve feeding goals，and improve blood glucose management，but it has no significant impact on the length of ICU stay. In the future，the management model for specialty nurses should be further optimized to strengthen their role in nutritional support for critically ill patients，thereby improving the overall quality of care and prognosis for patients.

Key words: Specialty nurses, Advanced practice nurses, Nutritional support, Intensive care unit, Position establishment and practice