NG Tube NPO

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Hello everyone!

I'm writing here tonight because I thought of a patient I had last week and have a little question.

The client was in for abdominal pain and turns out her stomach was full with 2 liters of liquid in it. Doc ordered to place NG tube and the patient to be NPO.

It was the first time I had a patient with a NG tube,and I know there's often NPO and strict NPO but..

I did not think of clarifying that with the M.D on my shift because I thought we wanted to drain the liquid and give her stomach some rest. Not refill it with food and other liquid.

Now I think I made a mistake assuming we had to give her meds!! (and be sure that next time I'll think about that twice)

So I was wondering, in this type of situations, when the patient is not waiting for surgery or any procedures, do we usually give meds to patients who have NG tubes?

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Hello everyone!

I'm writing here tonight because I thought of a patient I had last week and have a little question.

The client was in for abdominal pain and turns out her stomach was full with 2 liters of liquid in it. Doc ordered to place NG tube and the patient to be NPO.

It was the first time I had a patient with a NG tube,and I know there's often NPO and strict NPO but..

I did not think of clarifying that with the M.D on my shift because I thought we wanted to drain the liquid and give her stomach some rest. Not refill it with food and other liquid.

Now I think I made a mistake assuming we had to give her meds!! (and be sure that next time I'll think about that twice)

So I was wondering, in this type of situations, when the patient is not waiting for surgery or any procedures, do we usually give meds to patients who have NG tubes?

It depends entirely upon the orders for that particular patient. I've held all meds, no meds, and select meds at different times for different patients.

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

Entirely depends on situation.

It is a very common mistake, of both providers and RNs, of missing life-supporting meds, sending patients into withdrawals, unpredictable reactions of receptors, etc. due to "strict NPO". As a minimum, the nurse and physician who put patient on "strict NPO" must sit together and go through all meds. In 99 cases out of 100, taking of most important and life-preserving meds such as factor X inhibitors, b-blockers, oral AICD/HIV therapy, immunosupressers and some mental health meds can and should be continued.

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As others have said it depends on the MD and situation. Many meds can be switched to IV during this time.

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Specializes in Pedi.

What was the NG tube being used for? Was it to suction? Was it to drainage? Where I work (pediatrics), NG tubes are used for feeding far more often than they are for drainage or suction but, in adults, I know they are used frequently for drainage. If the tube is to drainage or suction and you're giving meds, you would need to clamp it for a period of time after giving the meds otherwise the meds will just drain or be suctioned right out.

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The NG tube is to empty out the contents from the stomach. If a patient is NPO with a NG tube - no meds will be administered unless it is by injection. This patient clearly has a problem with motility and fluid overload. The NG tube will be used to suction it out and if the patient returns to normal state she will be advanced to liquid diet as tolerated.

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As others have said, it's relative to the situation.

In most cases, especially shortly after admission, all PO meds will be held and any important ones (cardiac meds, etc) will be given via IV.

I've had patients too where the doctor okayed holding suction for an hour to give certain PO meds.

If the doctor ordered PO meds though, then that means they want you to either given them and hold suction temporarily, or they carelessly added the order and did't mean to.

Either way, contact them to clarify.

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Specializes in critical care.

One of the issues here is that it's a CMS requirement that every patient has a diet order, even if they're intubated/sedated/whatever. But this diet order doesn't cover enteral feeds or even paraenteral feeds. So patients often get ordered NPO and have tube feedings ordered too. It should definitely be clarified with every patient.

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I am a bit confused.

Was this NGT to suction?

If so, is there anybody anywhere who would ever give PO meds to somebody with NGT to suction?

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29 minutes ago, hherrn said:

I am a bit confused.

Was this NGT to suction?

If so, is there anybody anywhere who would ever give PO meds to somebody with NGT to suction?

Yes, it's commonly done from what I've observed. We turn off suction for half and hour, then start it back up.

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8 minutes ago, Sour Lemon said:

Yes, it's commonly done from what I've observed. We turn off suction for half and hour, then start it back up.

Well, that makes sense. I was picturing somebody giving PO meds with suction running.

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