The Hospitalist's Role in Ensuring Optimal Nutrition for Hospitalized Patients

Ensuring optimal nutrition for the hospitalized patient is a complex issue fraught with several pitfalls for clinicians as they asses the patient’s nutritional status and determine the caloric needs and appropriate delivery method. Many factors need to be considered when creating this patient-specific plan. The following activity discusses these issues and outlines the various dietary formulations (ie, oral, enteral nutrition, and parenteral nutrition). Step-by-step guidance for how to implement a nutritional plan for the different types of hospitalized patients that hospitalists encounter also is provided.

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Availability

On-Demand

Expires on May 07, 2026

Cost

Member: $0.00

Non-Member: $95.00

Credit Offered

2.5 CME Credits

2.5 ABIM-MOC Points

2.5 Participation Credits

Overview
Faculty
Accreditation
Recommended

Learning Objectives
After completing this activity, learners should be able to:

Assess the nutritional status of perioperative and critically ill patients.
Determine the caloric needs of perioperative and critical ill patients.
Calculate the protein, fat, and carbohydrate needs of the perioperative and critically ill patient.
Appraise the risks and benefits of different methods of inpatient nutrition.
Review the various dietary formulations for oral and enteral nutrition.
Describe the available strategies for delivering enteral nutrition.
Recognize methods to initiate and manage parenteral nutrition in critically ill patients.

If you are a Program Director and would like to grant access to your trainees, please reach out to education@hospitalmedicine.org for an academic access code.

Faculty

Lillian Harvey Banchik, MD, FACS, CNSC
Leonard Feldman, MD, FACP, FAAP, MHM
Kurt Pfeifer, MD, FACP, SFHM, DFPM

Faculty Disclosures
The individuals in control of content for this activity have no relevant relationships with ACCME-defined ineligible companies to disclose unless listed here. Any relevant relationships were mitigated prior to the start of this activity.

Accreditation Statement
The Society of Hospital Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

CME Credit Statement
The Society of Hospital Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 2.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)^TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

MOC Credit Statement
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 2.50 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

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