Nutrition is essential for healing and recovery from illness. Tube feeds are the standard care for patients with prolonged stays in the intensive care unit (ICU) who cannot eat food on their own. Tube feeding means that a tube has been placed in a patient's stomach or small intestine to provide nutrition.
When a patient is scheduled for an elective surgery, he/she usually has nothing to eat after midnight prior to the operation. A fasting period before surgery is done to avoid possible side effects during the placement of a breathing tube. Having an empty stomach is thought to decrease the chances of vomiting or aspiration while a breathing tube is placed. (Aspiration occurs when a substance, such as food provided by a tube feed, enters the airway.) However, some patients already have a breathing tube in place. The investigators do not know which is better for patients who already have a breathing tube in place: continuing feedings up until surgery or stopping them the night before.
The investigators hypothesize intubated surgical patients randomized to a protocol of feeding up until the point of surgery will have the safe delivery of more calories as compared to a group whose feeding is held at midnight prior to surgery.
