Nutritional support improves outcome in surgical patients

Aim: to identify outcome of preoperative and post-operative nutritional support on incisional wound healing in malnourished patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. methods: it was a descriptive case series of 120 patients spanning over 6 months duration. patients were admitted through opd according to inclusion criteria and screened for malnutrition using bmi,sga. preoperative nutrition according to calories calculated for 3-7 days was given. postoperative nutrition continues during the hospital stay and day of wound healing along with length of hospital stay was noted according to the criteria. results: total numbers of patients were 120,according to sga rating 51.7% patients were mildly malnourished and 48.3% patients were severely malnourished. the average days of wound healing were 11.28. average hospital stay for the patients was 20.61days. conclusion: nutritional assessment of the critically ill patient anticipating a major operation is crucial as there is strong association between malnutrition and impaired wound healing. adequate nutritional replacement can improve surgical recovery,shorten hospital stay,lowers readmission rates.