nursesky
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On the unit I am on for clinical, the policy is to use sterile water. Tap water makes sense since the GI tract is not clean. But why do we use water (sterile or tap) to flush them? What happens if we use normal saline? That is my question.
- 16 replies
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- feeding-tubes
- flush-tubes
- gi-tract
- hypotonic
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This topic is about:
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Why do we use sterile water to flush feeding tubes such as the j-tube? What happens if we use normal saline instead? I understand that sterile water is hypotonic and fluid will shift into the cells. NS is isotonic. On another note, I learned to flush NG tubes with NS. Why is there a difference in flush solutions if we are still instilling both into the GI tract?
- 16 replies
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1
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- feeding-tubes
- flush-tubes
- gi-tract
- hypotonic
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This topic is about:
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Is there one possible complication that can explain all the signs? The O2 sats is what worries me. It could possibly mean that the patient has some pulmonary disorder like COPD if the O2 sats decreased when oxygen administration was increased. Can a NG tube suctioning do this if it is positioned in the respiratory tract and the patient cannot breathe properly?
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Could this be septic shock?
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So far I was thinking of hemorrhaging due to the low blood pressure, high heart rate and high respiration rate. But usually with hemorrhaging, there is a decrease in body temp. Perhaps, the patient has an infection too? Sepsis?
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So let's say the vital signs for an abdominal surgery post op patient are a high pulse rate, low blood pressure, increasing respiratory rate over 20, increasing temperature of 37.9, and O2 sat of 80% on 3L of oxygen. The patient also has a NG tube for decompression and hemovac. What is this a sign of?