NJ tube issues

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Specializes in NICU/ICU.

Hi everyone! Wondering if anyone has been having issues with NJ tubes becoming obstructed? We have been noticing that our tubes are clogging off more frequently lately and I wanted to see if others were have these issues as well. Also, do you feed higher calorie formula/EBM through your NJ's?

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

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Specializes in ICU, Home Health and Hospice.

In our NICU we stopped using diet pop to flush the NJ tubes (aspartame was shown to be contraindicated in the population). We very rarely have issues with our NJs clogging and we typically just flush them with sterile water every 3-4 hours. We do feed higher calorie and fortified BM through these tubes and have not had issues with that.

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Specializes in NICU.

You mean NG tubes? Same thing? I've never had one clog before and we don't flush. Kids who are NG fed are fed max Q3H or less so I guess it wouldn't really be an issue.

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Specializes in NICU.
You mean NG tubes? Same thing? I've never had one clog before and we don't flush. Kids who are NG fed are fed max Q3H or less so I guess it wouldn't really be an issue.

NJ = nasojejunal, the tube passes through the pyloric sphincter and into the jejunum.

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Specializes in NICU.

I see. We must not see them often as I've never seen one.

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Specializes in Neonatal.

In my unit we call those a TP tube (for transpyloric) and we are not seeing issues with clogs there. As the feeds are continuous we don't flush them.

We do use higher calories in them.

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