NG tube and PO meds

[Lilpeanut93]

I recently had a patient that was receiving 24hr/day feedings through an NG tube. I gave him his PO meds as he was not NPO and able to swallow small pills. A nurse on my floor questioned if I had clamped the NG tube after giving him the meds.

Is this necessary? Does it affect the rate of absorption? I understand clamping the tube if the tube was set to suction, but his was purely for feeding.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

only if the pills were meant to be given on an empty stomach.

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

As the previous poster mentioned you do not need to clamp or hold feedings unless the medications are to be given on an empty stomach.

On a different note, back when I was in nursing school a classmate administered PO meds orally to a patient that had an NGT because he could swallow pills, well the pill got stuck to the NGT on the way down, that was a nightmare. If a patient has an NGT, PEG, or OGT, you bet I'll be crushing and administering them via that route.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

You would only clamp the tube for 30 minutes IF the nasogastric tube was to suction, to allow time to digest the meds instead of having them suctioned back out. I sure hope that other nurse knows that isn't necessary if the n/g tube isn't set to suction.