Nutrition Support
Feeding critically ill patients who cannot eat, because recovery from critical illness is impossible without it.
Critical illness burns through muscle at a rate that surprises families. A patient can lose a significant proportion of their muscle mass within the first two weeks, and that loss is a direct determinant of whether they walk out of hospital or spend months in rehabilitation.
Nutrition is therefore treated as a clinical intervention with a prescription, not as an afterthought.
How feeding is delivered
Where the gut works, we use it. Feed is delivered through a fine tube passed into the stomach, usually started within the first day or two, because early feeding is associated with better outcomes and maintains the integrity of the gut lining.
Where the gut cannot be used, nutrition is given intravenously. This is more complex, carries an infection risk through the line, and is used when it is genuinely needed rather than by preference.
As patients recover, feeding transitions back to eating by mouth. Swallowing is assessed first, particularly after a period of intubation or after a stroke, because inhaling food into the lungs causes exactly the pneumonia we are trying to avoid.
Why families should not bring food
It is a deeply natural instinct, and in most Nigerian families bringing food to a sick relative is what care looks like. In intensive care it can cause real harm.
A patient may be unable to swallow safely, may be nil by mouth for a procedure, may be on a strictly controlled fluid or potassium allowance, or may be on a feeding regimen calculated to the millilitre. Please ask the nurse before giving anything, including water. If food is appropriate we will tell you and it will help.
Common questions
Is the feeding tube uncomfortable?
It is uncomfortable when being passed and mildly so afterwards. Sedated patients tolerate it easily. It is far preferable to the alternative of not feeding.
Why has my relative lost so much weight?
Critical illness causes rapid muscle breakdown that feeding slows but does not fully prevent. It is expected, and rebuilding it is the work of the rehabilitation period that follows.
Who looks after your relative
Care in the unit is led by our consultant intensivist, with critical care nurses at the bedside continuously and specialist input from nephrology and anaesthesia where the case calls for it.
Dr Rita IrurheChief Executive Officer, SkyHigh Medical CentreMeet the team →What this costs
Cost depends on the level of support actually needed, so we quote rather than publish a rate card. Call the unit and you will be given the current figure, what would change it, and where your HMO cover stands, before treatment wherever the situation allows.
Costs and coverNext step
If you need a bed tonight, call. We will tell you straight away.
The unit is staffed at every hour. Referring clinicians should call before transferring a patient so availability can be confirmed and the team can be ready on arrival.