Objective. - In the setting of a formative assessment, the relevance of parenteral nutrition (PN) prescriptions was retrospectively studied in a French University Hospital during a 2-month period in 2008. Methods. - One hundred patients (60 men, mean age: 56.7 +/- 15.5 years, mean body mass index [BMI]: 22.4 +/- 4.3) were randomly selected from 22 care units from the nominative prescriptions received at the pharmacy. The relevance of PN indications was evaluated on the following criteria: contraindications, insufficiency or failure of oral/enteral feeding, screening of undernutrition, and the relevance of PN prescription, on the amount of energy prescribed, PN duration, and micronutrients supplementation. The practices of the clinical and biological PN monitoring were also evaluated. Results. - PN was total in 64%, and administered through a peripheral catheter in 17% of cases. Weight, weight loss, BMI, serum albumin and transthyretin were reported in the medical record in 88, 46, 21, 46, and 17% of cases, respectively. Mean total energy prescribed was 24.0 +/- 9.5 kcal/kg per day, greater than 35 kcal/kg per day in 12% and less than 25 kcal/kg per day in 55% of patients. The mean duration of PN was 9.1 +/- 6.5 days (range 1-35), and less than 15 days in 80% of cases. PN was administered without any micronutrient in 37% of cases. The weight and biological parameters were monitored in 67% and 6% of patients, respectively. Conclusion. - Most PN prescriptions are either irrelevant or inadapted regarding the duration, route of administration, monitoring, and micronutrients supplementation. The use of enteral nutrition is clearly insufficient. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.