The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in the incidence of diarrhea among the subjects
given hypertonic and isotonic nutrients to the nasogastric tube feeding patients in the a critical care setting. Methods:
This study is aquasi-experimental study with a pre & post-test design. The sample size of 40 was calculated based on
Cohen’s formula (1988). The total of 40 subjects who signed the informed consent were randomly selected and divided
evenly into two groups, experimental and control group. Results: There are no significant differences between the two
groups in homogeneity test (sex, age, albumin level, the use of antibiotics, antacid, and H2 blocker). However, the frequencies
of occurrence in diarrhea according to the density of nutrients formulation indicated a statistical difference at
the level of .005 (p=.001): diarrhea occurred in four of 20 (20%) of the experiment group, but 14 (70%) of the control
group. Also the onset date of diarrhea in the experiment group is later than that of the control group. Conclusion: The
research findings suggest that we should begin with low density nutrients for nasogastric tube feeding, and increase its
density gradually to decrease diarrhea incidence in the critical care setting.