• Cláudia Regina Felicetti Lordani, Raquel Goreti Eckert, Altevir Garcia Tozetto, Tarcísio Vitor Augusto Lordani, and Péricles Almeida Delfino Duarte.
• Serviço de Nutrição, Hospital Universitário do Oeste do Paraná, Cascavel, PR, Brasil.
• Rev Bras Ter Intensiva. 2014 Jul 1; 26 (3): 299-304.

ObjectiveTo assess the opinions and practices of intensive care professionals with regard to diarrhea in critically ill patients.MethodsA multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted among health care professionals working at three adult intensive care units.Participants responded individually to a self-administered questionnaire about their length of work experience in intensive care; the definition,characterization, and causes of diarrhea;types of records in the patient's medical record; and training received.ResultsA total of 78 professionals participated in this study, of whom 59.0% were nurse technicians, 25.7%were nurses, and 15.3% were physicians;77.0% of them had worked in intensive care for over 1 year. Only 37.2% had received training on this topic. Half of the interviewees defined diarrhea as "liquid and/or pasty stools" regardless of frequency, while the other 50.0% defined diarrhea based on the increased number of daily bowel movements. The majority of them mentioned diet as the main cause of diarrhea, followed by "use of medications" (p<0.001). Distinct nutritional practices were observed among the analyzed professionals regarding episodes of diarrhea, such as discontinuing, maintaining, or reducing the volume of enteral nutrition; physicians reported that they do not routinely communicate the problem to other professionals (for example, to a nutritionist) and do not routinely record and quantify diarrhea events in patients' medical records.ConclusionDifferent opinions and practices were observed in intensive care professionals with regard to diarrhea.

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