Overview of the UVA Nutrition Support Traineeship Manual

“Our goal is to encourage critical thinking and promote an advanced level of patient care.”

Description of the Manual:

The goal of the UVA Nutrition Support Traineeship manual is to provide up-to-date, evidence based nutrition support information for adult patients in a practical, clinically relevant format.

We focus on areas of nutrition support that our traineeship participants tell us are of most importance to them in daily clinical practice.  We try to address current areas of controversy within each module, emphasize where there are gaps in the available evidence, and identify which situations require clinical judgment.

Wherever possible, we have tried to reference original research and address the limitations of the data where pertinent.  As detailed within the “Evidence-based Practice” module, it is essential for clinicians to understand the methods and limitations of original research to be able to understand when to apply the information to their particular patient population.  This is not meant to be an exhaustive review of the literature, but a practical, evidence-based resource.

Clinical guidelines of various nutrition and critical care societies are infrequently referenced because these guidelines often do not address the details and primary limitations of the original research.  It is important to note how many recommendations within the various society guidelines are based primarily on expert opinion or low level evidence, due to a lack of high quality nutrition research. We do encourage clinicians to become familiar with American and international nutrition support guidelines, and to note where there is agreement and differences between the various guidelines.  The manual is not designed to be a study guide for the CNSC exam.