Nasogastric Tubes?

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I'm trying to findout out more about nasogastric tubes (sizes and types). And how do you determine what type & size to use for say, a patient admitted with CVA, has no gag reflex and will require enteral feedings?

Any suggestions, websites, recommendations, journal articles...anything that's NG related I suppose is much appreciated :)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.

In Australia, short term, usually use a salem sump tube. You can google for info. If they will need longterm feeds, we use a "tiger" tube or nasojejunal tube.

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Ya, I'm in Australia :) & I've heard about the salem sump but I find googling for info hard these days (so many irrelevant things pop up but I'll give it another go). Do you know what the french measurements are? Because I have no idea, I know that they range from #8-#18 I think, but just to be clear would a #8 be smaller/thinner than a #18?

Thanks aye

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.

I acutally meant I was answering from experience in Australia.

Yes, French gauge / 3 = mm diameter. So 18Fr = 6mm diameter tube, 9Fr = 3mm tube.

Usual salem sump bore = 16Fr I think (but it's been a while).

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

a 14f or 16f is usually the standard sized n/g tube used for an adult. anything smaller is more difficult to insert because the tube will bend too easily. if the tube doesn't retain some rigidity when you are inserting it, it bends and is more likely to end up coiling in the back of the throat and going no where.

a salem sump tube is a double lumen tube. one of the lumens gets connected to suction. the second lumen, at least with the salem sumps i've worked with, has a blue "pig tail" which is open to air. it's purpose is to maintain the atmospheric air pressure in the stomach so constant connection to suction doesn't cause damage to the sensitive internal gastric tissues. the problem is, that you have to keep the patient's head elevated. if the position of the tube in the stomach is such that suction is not efficiently removing the gastric contents, then those gastric contents will reflux right out of the pig tail end of the sump tube if the patient's position will allow gravity to do it's job. icky mess clean up in bed #10! i've seen nurses plug off the ends of the pig tails to prevent that from happening which is totally defeating the purpose of the physics behind the sump tube!

here is some information from the internet for you on the insertion of n/g tubes:

http://teach.lanecc.edu/nursingskills/ng/ngindex.htm - here is a link to a list of the steps involved in inserting an n/g tube from lane community college. there is a link on this site to a video of the procedure.

http://www.nursewise.com/courses/ng_hour.htm - care of the patient with a nasogastric tube written for nurses by a nurse

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