Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES:Patients on home parenteral nutrition (HPN) are prone to severe complications of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The pandemic requires adaptation of the health care standards, including epidemiologic surveillance, logistics of home supply, and monitoring. Potential lack of medical professionals may worsen the standard of care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the medical staff resources in HPN units. RESULTS:The study was conducted by major Polish scientific societies in clinical nutrition. A questionnaire was distributed among all Polish adult HPN centers concerning statistics from the first 3 mo of the pandemic (March through May 2020). Data on medical staff resources and organizational issues of the units were collected. Modifications of the home procedures, SARS-CoV-2 infection rates of HPN patients and health care workers (HCW) were analyzed. Influence of the pandemic on the rates of new qualifications for home artificial nutrition (HAN) was estimated. Fourteen of 17 adult Polish HPN units took part in the study. The point prevalence of HPN in Poland was 30.75/1 million citizens. Of HCWs, 344 were involved in patient care in Polish HPN units; 18.9% were physicians (49% surgeons, 18.46% internal medicine specialists, 15.38% anesthesiologists, 7.69% pediatricians, 1.54% palliative care specialists), 32.27% nurses, 5.23% dietitians, 9.01% pharmacists, 4.94% pharmacy technicians, 3.2% pharmacy assistants, 5.81% administrative workers, 3.49% physiotherapists. HAN patient-to-HCW ratios for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians were 49.5, 29.15, 111.6, and 181.6, respectively. Medium ages of physicians and nurses were 45.6 and 44.15 y, respectively. Slightly less than half (53.8%) of physicians and 31.53% of nurses worked parallelly in hospital wards. Thirty-one pharmacists overall were working in all HPN units (2.21 per unit) as were 18 dietitians (1.3 per unit). Nine patients had a confirmed COVID-19 infection (four HPN, five home enteral nutrition). All the units introduced telemedicine solutions in the first months of the pandemic. The number of new qualifications for HPN and home enteral nutrition in the units did not significantly decline from March through May in comparison with a similar period in 2019. CONCLUSIONS:A shortage of HPN medical professionals requires attention when planning health care organization, especially during a pandemic. Severe restrictions in public health systems may not reduce the number of new qualifications for the HPN procedure. There is a need for the continuation of data collection during the evolution of the pandemic as it may have a detrimental effect on HPN including serious issues with access to professional HCWs.

Objective/UNASSIGNED:We report a case series of 4 patients with type 1 diabetes who used hybrid closed-loop insulin pumps (Medtronic MiniMed 670 G) during hospitalization. Methods/UNASSIGNED:Clinical data and point-of-care glucose values are presented for each patient. Glucose values are shown graphically while in manual mode as well as in auto mode. Results/UNASSIGNED:The first case was a 30-year-old man admitted for pancreatitis. Mean point-of-care blood glucose was 165.7 mg/dL while in auto mode, without hypoglycemia, compared with 221 mg/dL while in manual mode. The second case was a 28-year-old woman who was admitted for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Mean point-of-care blood glucose in auto mode was 131.3 mg/dL, without hypoglycemia, compared with 117.6 mg/dL while in manual mode. The third case was a 46-year-old man admitted to the intensive care unit for influenzal pneumonia. Mean point-of-care blood glucose in auto mode was 159.1 mg/dL without hypoglycemia, compared with 218.5 mg/dL while in manual mode. The fourth case was a 60-year-old man who remained in auto mode throughout his hospitalization except for a period when he removed his pump for an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and endoscopic ultrasound. His mean point-of-care blood glucose while in auto mode was 156.8 mg/dL without hypoglycemia. Conclusion/UNASSIGNED:These case reports support the use of hybrid closed-loop insulin-pump therapy in the inpatient setting to maintain inpatient glycemic targets and avoid hypoglycemia when part of an institution-sanctioned strategy for safe use of insulin pumps that includes point-of-care blood glucose monitoring.

BACKGROUND:) level and poor outcomes in hospitalized patients with diabetes and COVID-19. METHODS:results for each patient were divided into quartiles; 5.1-6.7% (32-50 mmol/mol), 6.8-7.5% (51-58 mmol/mol), 7.6-8.9% (60-74 mmol/mol), and >9% (>75 mmol/mol). The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included admission to an intensive care unit, invasive mechanical ventilation, acute kidney injury, acute thrombosis, and length of hospital stay. RESULTS:Five hundred and six patients were included. The number of deaths within quartiles 1 through 4 were 30 (25%), 37 (27%), 34 (27%) and 24 (19%), respectively. There was no statistical difference in the primary or secondary outcomes between the quartiles except acute kidney injury was less frequent in quartile 4. CONCLUSIONS:should not be used for risk stratification in these patients.

BACKGROUND/UNASSIGNED:Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) is a common diabetes treatment modality. Glycemic outcomes of patients using CSII in the first 24 hours of hospitalization have not been well studied. This timeframe is of particular importance because insulin pump settings are programmed to achieve tight outpatient glycemic targets which could result in hypoglycemia when patients are hospitalized. METHODS/UNASSIGNED:This retrospective cohort study evaluated 216 hospitalized adult patients using CSII and 216 age-matched controls treated with multiple daily injections (MDI) of insulin. Patients using CSII did not make changes to pump settings in the first 24 hours of admission. Blood glucose (BG) values within the first 24 hours of admission were collected. The primary outcome was frequency of hypoglycemia (BG < 70 mg/dL). Secondary outcomes were frequency of severe hypoglycemia (BG < 40 mg/dL) and hyperglycemia (BG ≥ 180 mg/dL). RESULTS/UNASSIGNED: = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS/UNASSIGNED:Patients using CSII experienced fewer events of both hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia in the first 24 hours of hospital admission than those treated with MDI. Our study demonstrates that CSII use is safe and effective for the treatment of diabetes within the first 24 hours of hospital admission.

A number of topics important to the handling of intravenous lipid emulsions (ILEs) were discussed at the international summit. ILE handling includes the preparation and the administration steps in the typical use of parenteral nutrition (PN). The discussion and consensus statements addressed several issues, including standardization of the PN process, use of commercially available multi-chamber PN or compounded PN bags, the supervision by a pharmacist with expertise, limiting ILE repackaging, and infusion duration.

The inclusion of ω-3 fatty acids as part of parenteral nutrition is associated with clinical benefits such as a reduced likelihood of infectious complications and shorter hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) stays. As healthcare resources are limited, pharmacoeconomic analyses have been performed, typically modeling studies, using cost and outcomes data to investigate the cost-effectiveness of parenteral nutrition regimens including ω-3 fatty acids from fish oil compared with standard parenteral nutrition without such ω-3 fatty acids. This review covers pharmacoeconomic studies encompassing Italian, French, German, and UK hospitals for ICU and non-ICU hospitalized patients, and for ICU patients in China. The results show that the use of parenteral nutrition including ω-3 fatty acids more than offsets any additional acquisition costs in all national scenarios investigated to date, indicating that parenteral nutrition including ω-3 fatty acids is a clinically and economically beneficial strategy compared with standard parenteral nutrition.

AIM/OBJECTIVE:Patients on parenteral nutrition (PN) are prone to inflammation. This may aggravate an existing proinflammatory state and become a critical factor in the development of liver dysfunction (LD). Intravenous fish oil may attenuate this inflammatory state, but data on its use in adults are scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of adding a pure fish oil intravenous lipid emulsion (ILE) into short- and long-term PN in patients either at risk of, or with existing, inflammation. METHODS:= 19). The observation period was 12 months for CIF and 21 days for UC and CD. RESULTS:= 0.1785) did not vary over time. CONCLUSIONS:PN with pure fish oil ILE reduces some inflammatory parameters in IBD and maintains liver function parameters in CIF patients. Fish oil might become a valuable ingredient in both short- and long-term PN in patients at risk of liver dysfunction.

The protein and energy requirements of critically ill patients treated in intensive care units (ICUs) have been actively discussed recently. Currently published clinical recommendations and reviews suggest significant increases of protein provision to 2-2.5 g/kg/d in some populations of ICU patients. However, a detailed analysis of the main sources of these recommendations reveals a number of serious contradictions, as well as an absence of obvious evidence supporting the allotment of high doses of protein. We went through these recommendations and reviewed cited articles and other studies, and we have separated our arguments against excessive protein provision into sections.