Peg Tube Residual

[NurseLinda92, LPN]

i was wondering if there could be a medical reason why my patient continues to have 60cc's of peg residual even after 2- 1/2 hours after he's had any fluids. this seems to be more of a problem when he's sitting up in his chair, but very shortly resolves after he's laid back down in his bed. we've tried him on reglan per doctor's orders, but this does not help at all.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

How old is he? What are his diagnoses?

[morte, LPN, LVN]

it could simply be positional, when the patient lies down the end of the tube isnt in a position to reach the residual....and the stomach empties when sufficiently fulll.apparently 60 cc isnt enough....

[softstorms]

It could be positional, but our order is that if it is over 100cc, hold for an hour and if still over 100 call the MD. Your stomach is never really empty, even without a meal it still has gastric juices in it. (that is why we always put our residual back). Is you pt totally NPO? What rate is he running at? Is he end stage Dx?

[kars74]

There might be placement issues. If it continues the patient my need to have that PEG TUBE REPLACED. I HAD A PATIENT THAT WAS HAPPENING TO AND MY FACILITY SENT HIM OUT AFTER HAVING AN ABD. XRAY AND FINDING THE TUBE WAS NOT IN THE CORRECT PLACE.