Published
My experience with NG tubes is in both chronic and acute care settings. In neither setting did we have any changing protocols. In the ICU setting I did see several patients get sinus infections from long term NG tubes (these patients were all intubated). In these patients we changed the tube and used the Oral route for the rather than nasal.
Janet RN (Massachusetts)
We don't change them either. Hopefully they don't stay in too long, athough the occaisonal person needs it for more than a couple of weeks.
Isn't there more of a risk of aspiration during the removal and insertion process? As long as placement is verified with accurate methods (which we do NOT use at my hospital, sad to say), it stays in. I never thought about infection risk, but the GI tract is hardly a sterile field anyway, is it? Usually people with long term NG's are sick enough that infection could come from any number of other sources.
We do not have a protocol for routinely changing NGtubes at our facility but we encourage pts that require long term tube feedings to have Peg tubes inserted (greatly decreases RF aspiration) I have found in my own practice however that Pts have instituted their own NGtube protocol: THEY PULL IT OUT, WE PUT A NEW ONE IN!!!!
Hayden
20 Posts
Just wondering if any units routinely change NG tubes. I'm sometimes concerned about the state of theses tubes and the possibility that they are a breeding ground for bacteria. My facility does not change NG tubes.