Administering enteral tube medications – room for improvement?
- Emergency Medicine (M516), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia
- Correspondence to Teresa Williams
Emergency Medicine (M516), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia;teresa.williams{at}uwa.edu.au
Implications for practice and research
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Management of enteral tubes is common in nursing practice.
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Administration of medication involves several skills.
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Practices in administration of medication through enteral tubes is inconsistent and some are considered unsafe.
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Research to provide the best available evidence is needed.
Context
Management of enteral tubes for decompression of the stomach, provision of nutrition and administration of medications is a common nursing practice. Enteral nutrition is the preferred method of feeding for patients unable to take oral nutrition.1 Administration of medications through enteral tubes requires several skills including verifying enteral tube placement and preparing drugs for administration. The preferred method for checking enteral tube …
