Fenestrated cannula??

novasure renal is a formulation of tube feeding. i couldn't find it specifically on the internet, but it sounds suspiciously similar to ensure and may be made by the same manufacturer (i'm thinking novartis labs). it probably is low in protein, potassium and possibly in carbs as well. you want to hold any liquids prior to chest p.t. so the patient doesn't aspirate them. if you've ever seen vigorous chest percussion done by the r.t. people, the idea is to get the patient to cough and get their sputum moving up and out. some people can cough with such force that anything in the stomach is also forced up and out as well. so, you want their stomach empty. the last thing they need to do is hock up a bunch of liquid tube feeding along with their sputum. so, it's really a safety issue. if you ever get the chance to see chest pt (or percussion) done on a kid with cystic fibrosis you'll understand what i'm talking about. they turn these kids nearly upside down and pound on their back so they cough out huge wads of sputum.

if you suction with the fenestrated cannula in place, all you're going to do is suction atmospheric air from the room that will get sucked into the suction catheter. the non-fenestrated cannula closes off the trachea so when you suction it, your suctioning efforts will be more efficient. it would be like poking some holes in a straw toward the mouth end, then putting it in a glass and sucking away--all you're going to get is air from the atmosphere and nothing from the liquid in the glass. the fenestrated cannula is inserted so the patient can talk. just remember that with the non-fenestrated cannula in place the patient is no longer able to make audible sound.

in between watching the apprentice and deal or no deal tonight :) i'll see if i can find you more information on these things.

addendum: here is where you can find information on postural percussion and drainage:

http://www.cff.org/sitesearch/dsp_searchresults.cfm - pick "introduction to postural drainage and percussion" to get the lowdown on how this is done. another name for this is chest physiotherapy.

i am finding no luck on novasure renal. are you sure that is the correct name of the product?

as you have probably figured out by now, your patient is on novasource renal, not novasure renal. it is from novartis, as i suspected, and here is their product page on it

http://www.novartisnutrition.com/us/productdetail?id=29

i was wrong about it being low in protein. it seems like it is higher in protein than other tube feedings, but that makes sense. if the patient has kidney disease and is losing protein through damaged kidneys he needs protein replacement as proteins are usually one of the first things lost in the urine of people with nephotic syndrome. their body will start to rob protein from their own body and organ tissues to satisfy it's needs--not good.

http://www.novartisnutrition.com/pdfs/us/presentations/enteral_tube_feeding_family_rev1.pdf - here is a brochure about other novartis enteral feeding products

The word you are looking for is Novasource Renal Tube Feeds..... google it.

S. Hogan. . .welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

If you look at the dates of the posts at the top left you will notice that this thread was started 3 years ago. The original OP of this thread has not been logged to allnurses since May 23, 2007, two years ago. I realize you are a new member. You will get the hang of posting as you keep at it.