Clinical Nutrition Support in Sharjah

What is clinical nutrition support?

Clinical nutrition support is a stepped plan to feed someone who is eating too little to meet their body's needs. Malnutrition means the body is short of energy, protein, vitamins or minerals, and it weakens muscles, slows healing and lowers resistance to infection.

The plan climbs a ladder, starting with the simplest step that works:

1. Food first: more frequent meals and snacks, and fortifying ordinary food with extra energy and protein, such as adding milk powder, cheese, olive oil, nut butters or eggs to dishes the person already eats.
2. Oral nutritional supplements: specially formulated drinks, puddings or powders that pack energy, protein and nutrients into small volumes.
3. Tube feeding: a liquid feed given through a thin tube into the stomach, used when swallowing is unsafe or eating falls short for a long spell.

A fact many families find surprising: malnutrition can affect people of any body size. Someone who is overweight can still be malnourished after losing weight quickly through illness, and muscle loss often hides under body fat.

At Dar Al Kamal Hospital, Sharjah, the dietitian carries this plan from the clinic to your home. Feeding in intensive care is covered on the critical care nutrition page, and nutrition during a ward stay on the inpatient dietetics page.

Who needs it

Clinical nutrition support helps people who are losing weight without trying, eating far less than usual, or recovering from an illness that has drained their reserves. Common reasons for referral include:

• Cancer and its treatment, which can reduce appetite and change taste
• Chronic lung, heart, kidney or liver disease
• Stroke, Parkinson's disease, dementia or other conditions that affect swallowing, described on the swallowing disorder page
• Crohn's disease and other conditions that reduce absorption from the gut
• Frailty in older age, or a long hospital stay
• Weight loss with no clear cause, investigated alongside unexplained weight loss investigation

What happens

The dietitian begins with a malnutrition screen: your weight now and six months ago, your appetite, how much you are eating, and your illness. Measurements such as mid-upper arm size help where standing on scales is difficult. Recent blood results and your medicines are reviewed alongside this.

The plan then starts at the right rung of the ladder. For food fortification and snacks, the dietitian works with the person who cooks at home and uses familiar dishes, such as enriched soups, harees, lentils and milk puddings. Where supplement drinks are prescribed, you are shown how many to take, how to spread them between meals, and how to vary flavours so they stay acceptable.

For tube feeding, the medical team places the tube and the dietitian sets the feed type, volume and timing. Common routes include:

| Route | How it works | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Nasogastric tube | A thin tube through the nose into the stomach | Shorter-term feeding |
| Gastrostomy tube | A tube placed through the skin of the abdomen into the stomach | Longer-term feeding at home |

Families learn how to run the feed with a pump or syringe, how to flush the tube with water, how to give medicines through it, and how to care for the skin around a gastrostomy.

Preparing for it

Bring a record of everything eaten and drunk over three days, even small amounts, and note any foods that have become hard to chew or swallow. Weigh yourself at home if you can and bring earlier weights, since the change over time matters more than a single reading.

Bring a full list of medicines, recent blood results and any discharge letters. If a family member does the cooking or will manage tube feeding, ask them to come too.

Afterwards

Follow-up visits track weight, strength, appetite and blood results, and the plan moves up or down the ladder as eating recovers. Many people step back from tube feeding to supplements, and from supplements to ordinary fortified food, as their illness settles.

Keep a simple chart of weight and supplement or feed intake at home. In the Sharjah heat, extra water flushes through the tube or extra drinks may be needed, and the dietitian adjusts fluid in the plan for summer.

Contact the hospital if a feeding tube blocks, moves or falls out, if the skin around a gastrostomy becomes red, swollen or leaks, or if weight keeps falling despite the plan. Go to the emergency department straight away for coughing or breathlessness during a feed, vomiting with abdominal swelling, or fever with pain around the tube site.

Cost and insurance

Many UAE insurance plans cover dietitian care for malnutrition linked to a medical condition. Oral nutritional supplements, feeds and pump equipment for home use are often covered separately or only with pre-approval, and some plans exclude them. Dar Al Kamal Hospital, Sharjah can help you check your cover and start any approval on 06 599 7777.