I had a pt last night that was complaining of discomfort and refused his tube feeding overnight. I held them for a couple of hours. On our unit at night the Drs are pretty hard to get a hold of and usually don't care about things like that but I'm curious if that's something that on a different shift or on a different floor if that's something that they need to be aware of. This pt just doesn't like his feeding overnight bc it causes discomfort to him when he's trying to sleep.

I don't blame him. If I eat closer to bedtime than about three hours, I have trouble sleeping. I can understand why he doesn't like his stomach filling in the middle of the night. Some can sleep through a lot. Some can't.

The obvious fix is to change his feeding time to when he's awake and willing, perhaps first thing in the morning or early in the evening. Calling an MD about that in the middle of the night will irritate them as you note. But the day nurses could bring it up when the MDs are there anyway. The order might even specify that the feeding can go in at the time of the patient's choosing.

After all, this is food not carefully timed meds.

Gastric motility decreases whilst we sleep, so I don't blame him. I've found reducing the speed of feeds or stopping them entirely is the only way to go. I would chart that he refused them, and leave it for the AM. Unless it's critical, nothing can be done. Can't force it on the patient!