GI Bleed

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I have a question about gi bleed. Lately on my floor we've been getting a lot of gi bleeding and all the patients are always ordered either to be npo or clear liquid. Why is clear liquid diet ordered? Whats the rationale?

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.

Bowel rest

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

Think of the function of the bowel......not putting food in means less activity in the bowel, chance for recovery from the bleed.

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Specializes in Endoscopy, OR, ICU, HIV, Bariatrics.

Hi there. The doctors order a clear liquid diet and later NPO in order to perform an upper endoscopy first, then a colonoscopy to follow (after a colon prep is finished). This is to find the source of the bleeding. :) If these have already been completed, it's to let the GI system settle down and heal itself.

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