Pharmacy Practice Faculty Publications

A Nursing Survey to Determine the Characteristics of Medication Administration through Enteral Feeding Catheters

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1995

Journal Title

Clinical Nursing Research

ISSN

1054-7738

Volume

4

Issue

3

First Page

290

Last Page

305

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/105477389500400306

PubMed ID

7633339

Abstract

A statewide survey was designed to develop a better understanding of the current practices and problems encountered with medication administration through enteral feeding catheters (EFCs). The sample of 223 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses estimated that a median of 1096 of patients received medications through an EFC. EFC obstruction was estimated to have occured a median of 1.5 times per week, with 50% of obstructions estimated to be due to medication administration. Nine of 14 spic medications reported as "most frequently contributing to"feeding catheter obstruction available in liquid form, yet tablets were crushed and given When nurses perceived the pharmacy department as helping them insure that liquid dosage form was used, there was greater use of liquid forms, less use of crushed forms, and less medication-associated catheter obstruction. In this sample, the majority of nurses did not follow consistently the few recommendations available.

Keywords

Drug therapy, drug-related side effects and adverse reactions, enteral nutrition, humans, intubation, gastrointestinal, physician's practice patterns, questionnaires

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