Registered Dietitians’ enteral feeding practices, obstacles, and needs during the management of critically Ill hospitalized patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study

OBJECTIVES: Nutritional protocols and guidelines are essential to guide health-care practitioners toward effective enteral feeding management for critically ill patients. Despite the wide availability of international guidelines to direct enteral feeding practices, there are no nutritional guidelines regarding enteral feeding practices tailored for the Saudi Arabian population. In addition, different enteral feeding practices may result in negative outcomes like malnutrition. METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted through multiple focus group sessions. Pre-formulated structured open-ended questions were asked from the participants during the focus group sessions to gain an in-depth understanding of the current enteral feeding practices. All sessions were audio-recorded, and the transcript was coded and cross-validated. RESULTS: A total of five focus group sessions were conducted until data saturation was reached. Data saturation was reached when no additional information was mentioned in the fifth focus group session when compared to all previous sessions. All 24 participants were specialized in the clinical nutrition field with enteral feeding experience in critically ill patients and working in Riyadh city. Twelve themes of the current practices, four themes of obstacles, and four themes of needs were identified with subthemes. CONCLUSION: This qualitative study shows different enteral feeding practices, obstacles, and needs among registered dietitians. Thus, the need for developing national nutritional guidelines tailored to local population characteristics is highlighted. National guidelines are recommended to be compatible with a defined registered dietitian role with clear standards of practices and responsibility for each discipline to achieve a competent health care service.