Specialties Gastroenterology
Published Jul 24, 2015
Tbajeux2010
6 Posts
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?
AJJKRN
1,224 Posts
Bowel rest
K+MgSO4, BSN
1,753 Posts
Think of the function of the bowel......not putting food in means less activity in the bowel, chance for recovery from the bleed.
puroticorico, MSN, CNA, RN
56 Posts
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.