"Optimizing Surgical Recovery Through Evidence-Based Nutrition Support: A Narrative Review of Nursing Roles, Clinical Strategies, and Best Practices"

Abstract: Nutrition is a fundamental determinant of surgical outcomes, influencing wound healing, immune function, recovery, and overall patient prognosis. Malnutrition, both overt and subclinical, remains highly prevalent among surgical patients and is associated with increased postoperative complications, prolonged hospital stay, higher healthcare costs, and mortality. Contemporary surgical care emphasizes early nutritional assessment, individualized nutrition therapy, and multidisciplinary collaboration to optimize perioperative recovery. Nurses play a pivotal role in identifying nutritional risks, implementing nutritional interventions, monitoring patient responses, educating patients and caregivers, and coordinating multidisciplinary care. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence regarding nutrition support in surgical patients with a particular emphasis on nursing roles and evidence-based clinical practices. The review discusses nutritional physiology during surgical stress, methods of nutritional screening and assessment, enteral and parenteral nutrition strategies, enhanced recovery protocols, specialized nutritional supplements, complications of nutrition therapy, patient education, and future innovations in perioperative nutritional care. Evidence consistently demonstrates that structured nutritional interventions led by multidisciplinary teams, with nurses serving as central coordinators, significantly improve postoperative recovery, reduce infections, accelerate wound healing, and enhance patient satisfaction. Continuous nursing education and integration of evidence-based nutritional practices remain essential for improving surgical outcomes worldwide.