The eCourse on Nutrition in Critical Illness provides participants with an introductory overview of the field of nutrition and metabolic management in intensive care. After registering for the event, ensure you access the dedicated online classroom on the ESICM Academy.
Danielle BEAR – Dietitian, PhD Consultant Dietitian – critical care, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. FREM Committee, ESICM
Michael CASAER – MD, PhD, Intensive Care Medicine Department – Burn Centre Laboratory of Intensive Care Medicine, CMM University Hospitals Leuven, Catholic University Leuven, Chair of the Feeding, Rehabilitation, Endocrinology & Metabolism (FREM) Section, ESICM
Discuss the evidence surrounding enteral (EN) and parenteral nutrition (PN) during the different phases of the metabolic response to critical illness.
Understand and analyze the value of observational and controlled studies in assessing patient-centred outcomes (particularly physical function) with reliable estimates of treatment effect and translation to the bedside.
Understand the value and limitations of scores and biomarkers for assessing nutrition status, timing of nutrition and risk of refeeding syndrome.
Understand and analyze the indication for different PN & EN formulations and different access-modalities (nasal/oral tube versus percutaneous access to the stomach, duodenum or jejunum)
Outline and assess the target for energy (including indirect calorimetry), protein, micronutrients and electrolytes and blood glucose levels and their translation into pragmatic protocols and quality improvement strategies
Programme Content
Importance of Feeding
Understanding Nutrition research
Nutritional Assessment
Nutritional Targets
Nutritional Therapy
Enteral Nutrition
Parenteral Nutrition
Monitoring and Complications
Protocols
Quality improvement and knowledge transfer to the bedside
Novel perspectives
Target
Intensive care doctors, nurses and allied health care professionals (N&AHPs) with high interest in patient nutrition in intensive care.
Fellowship
A total of 10 fellowships fully supported by Fresenius Kabi will be conducted in centres around Europe, giving fellows the opportunity to experience nutrition in the critically ill in real-life settings and learn directly from experts. Fellowship-related costs (accommodation and travel) up to 1000 EUR/fellow will be reimbursed. Eligibility for fellowships:
Must be a member of the ESICM (so join us now if not already a member!)
Fellowships will be awarded on basis of attendance at the course and highest performance in the post-course evaluation.
Complete Post-Test in 72 hours post course.
Complete the fellowship application form
Upload a letter of recommendation regarding your activity and motivation
Upload a letter of support from your supervisor if you are a junior, stipulating whether there is support from the unit to implement changes based on your learning.
Fellowship centres, mentors and dates:
Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska, Sweden – Olav ROOYACKERS, Martin SUNDSTRÖM REHAL and the local team (Dates TBC)
University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium – Michael CASAER, Jan GUNST and the local team (August 25-29, 2025)
Note! Priority will be given to those participants who haven’t benefitted from a fellowship on this topic before.
Support Emerging Nations and Eastern Europe
ESICM members from the Emerging Nations and Eastern Europe (see list of countries here) are entitled to an discount on registration fees. To qualify, participants must be active ESICM members for the current year. To become a member, please see more information here.
Accreditation
The Nutrition in Critical Illness, Virtual, Belgium 24/04/2024 – 25/04/2024, has been accredited by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®) with 12.0 European CME credits (ECMEC®s). Each medical specialist should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.
Through an agreement between the Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes and the American Medical Association,physicians may convert EACCME® credits to an equivalent number of AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Information on the process to convert EACCME® credit to AMA credit can be found at https://edhub.ama-assn.org/pages/applications .
Live educational activities, occurring outside of Canada, recognised by the UEMS-EACCME® for ECMEC®s are deemed to be Accredited Group Learning Activities (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Cana
Highlights of previous editions
2023 edition
This year’s first edition was attended by 79 participants from 38 countries. Here’s what they thought was the best part of the event:
Great that it was a multidisciplinary course. Fantastic speakers and very interesting presentations.
The e-course was very well organised as it is already a standard for all ESICM events. Perhaps the best aspect is the possibility to communicate directly with the faculty members.
Very practical course and directed to the clinical practice. It also revealed the gaps in the current knowledge and areas in need of further research.
The experience of participants is invaluable. The attention and availability they have for us during the event are totally graceful. The pictures and videos they share with us are awesome. I would do it again and again.
For me the combination of practical (learning through clinical cases) and theoretical part. This helped a lot to understand.
The best aspect was the possibility of asking questions to professionals and authors of guidelines. The second one – was the presence of perfect clinical cases as practical side of this ecourse.
2024 edition
This year’s edition was attended by 117 participants from 47 countries. Here’s what they thought was the best part of the event:
High quality and enthusiastic speakers.
It was extremely useful in all aspects, organisation, information, case presentation, updates,
I enjoyed the entire event. It was interactive which was really good at helping to keep people motivated to watch the event. I enjoyed each talk and especially the case studies.
The discussion about new and actualized topics, it is amazing because i can use it in my workplace.
The clinical case where the important information was put into practice. It helped understanding how much one had retained from the previous study and presentations but also on how to use this information in reality.
The clinical case workshops for me were the most enjoyable because even though it was “situational/theoretical” for this course, we get to apply what was discussed in terms of how we approach the case provided.
Faculty with strong expertise and wide array of experience in critical care nutrition.
Lot of physiological concepts explained very well, backed by evidence. It zas nice to hear it from the authors who were involved in the studies themselves.
Great interactive learning, enough time for questions. Very informative.
The best aspect was that all the activities were interactive so you can participate in an active way all the time.
Good coverage of different aspects of nutrition. Knowledgeable speakers. Very up to date knowledge. Plenty of points for discussion. Helped me gain a good understanding of the variation in practice.
One cannot find better faculty member than this for the course. The sessions were highly interactive, with a focus on encouraging questions throughout the ongoing presentation rather than waiting until the end.
The quality of the program and presentations.
The experts and their spirit. This was very helpful to be engaged throughout the whole course. They were always available to answer our questions.
The case-based discussions are in my opinion the course’s huge strength as they really allow one to pick the experts brains and see how different centres provide nutritional care.
Besides the excellent presentations I found it great that the speakers shared their personal thoughts and practices.
The opportunity to learn about the implementation of clinical nutrition in other medical centres.
Exchange of thoughts of audience and the lecturer. Giving us the reality of our patients and the management dilemma we face.
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