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Auckland City Hospital's intensive care unit has topped an international survey on feeding critically ill patients.
Patients in intensive care units are mostly sedated so must be fed artificially.
"Early and effective feeding is a vital part of patient recovery," said senior clinical dietitian Lyn Gillanders, of the Auckland Hospital unit. "Not only does it increase survival rates, but it reduces the incidence of serious complications arising. Good nutrition can ultimately be the difference between life and death."
She said the award showed the quality of feeding at the Auckland Hospital unit was outstanding and world-leading.
The survey considered all aspects of intensive care nutrition, she said. These included the proportion of patients fed through a tube into the stomach or small intestines - the preferred method; the extent to which feeding aims for nutrients were achieved; and the rate of infections for those fed intravenously.
The survey of 167 intensive care units was conducted by Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. This is the second time Auckland City Hospital has participated.
