• Jill Cox and Louisa Rasmussen.
• Jill Cox is an assistant professor of nursing at Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey. She maintains a clinical practice as an advanced practice and certified wound, ostomy, and continence nurse at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood, New Jersey.Louisa Rasmussen is the registered dietician for the critical care service at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. jillm.cox@rutgers.edu.
• Crit Care Nurse. 2014 Dec 1;34(6):15-27; quiz 28.

AbstractPrevention and healing of pressure ulcers in critically ill patients can be especially challenging because of the patients' burden of illness and degree of physiological compromise. Providing adequate nutrition may help halt the development or worsening of pressure ulcers. Optimization of nutrition can be considered an essential ingredient in prevention and healing of pressure ulcers. Understanding malnutrition in critical care patients, the effect of nutrition on wound healing, and the application of evidence-based nutritional guidelines are important aspects for patients at high risk for pressure ulcers. Appropriate screenings for nutritional status and risk for pressure ulcers, early collaboration with a registered dietician, and administration of appropriate feeding formulations and micronutrient and macronutrient supplementation to promote wound healing are practical solutions to improve the nutritional status of critical care patients. Use of nutritional management and enteral feeding protocols may provide vital elements to augment nutrition and ultimately result in improved clinical outcomes.©2014 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

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