How often do you change your indwelling fdg tubes?

[walkingrock, ADN]

one of my co-workers went to a conference recently, where they said the tubes should be changed daily, as there is some evidence of them causing nec, or feeding intolerance. :uhoh21: now i don't know the details, and i find this very disconserting. that seems like it would defeat the purpose of an indwelling ngt. did anyone go to this conference? what did you get from it? what kind of feeding tubes are being talked about?

we use the nutri-cath feeding tubes from utah medical products/gesco. they are silicone and latex free. we leave them in for a month. what kind of tubes to you all use? how often do you change them?

[Zippedodah]

We use silastics and leave them for 30 days. If they aren't silastic then we do change them every day.

I'd like to see the research on this. We only have, maybe, one to two cases of NEC per year, and most of those kids aren't even being fed yet.

[Finallyat40]

We routinely change our Corepak's (silastics) every 30 days and the regular 6 french ones every 3 days.

I'd be interested in seeing the research and whether it also took into consideration the oral sensitivity that is caused by dropping tubes all the time. I'm a NICU nurse now, but also a NICU mom of a 27 weeker who has sensory integration disorder that I'm convinced was spurred by constantly dropping tubes rather than leaving them in.

Jamie

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

We change tubes daily, except for the Silastics. We try and keep them in for at least 3 weeks.But you know little fingers often yank them out.

And it's hard too if you have to re tape an ETT or you extubate, because with all that tape flying around, you know your ng/og tube is going to come out.

We use the long term tubes on the

The NEC connect is interesting. Everyone has an opinion on it. It's formula. it's feeding tubes, it's stress. No one really seems to have a difinitive study.

[cathys01]

Seems to me the risk for puncturing something on insertion would outweigh the (unproven) NEC risk.

As for how long they stay in, I have yet to see a baby that actually kept a tube down for 30 days (and even if they did manage to keep it in for 30 days, it would have to be adjusted because the baby grows in that time too.) They can get very creative and usually manage to pull them out at some point!! Then there's the baby that pulls them out between every feeding, no matter how well you tape them down!

[walkingrock, ADN]

thanks for all the feedback, anybody else??? yes, i agree with jamie: "in & out" tubes really cause problems...i personally also want to see some research on this...i think daily changing would be a huge step backwards! evidentally this is some new research, i don't even know by who...i was just horrified. i asked my charge nurse if she had heard of it, and she had from some other staff that went to this conference...

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

We use the Utah Med ones, and currently change them q 7 days, unless they look cruddy. We've been told the manufacturer says they're good for 30 days, so we're clearing this with infection control and then giving it a try. In my opinion, dropping new tubes every day is more of a perforation/erosion risk. I doubt that the tubes will last 30 days though, just from sheer buildup of gunk and tape residue on them.