Venting G-button/Mic-key Question

tainted1972, ASN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

I would ask the family to get a doctors order so you can be sure that you are doing the right thing.

I have never vented a mic-key, anytime that I have left it open after a feeding (unintentionally), it spilled out.

Akeos · Apr 20, 2011

I vent my patients all the time. there's vent tubing/syringe that come in the kit, if you don't have access to it it's just tubing with a 60ml syringe with no plunger. I just hook it up, unclamp it and leave it propped up against something, mostly air will come out but some feeding will too. when your done I just hold the syringe up and let it the feeding that came out flow back in by gravity.

rockabye · Apr 20, 2011

I haven't vented a mickey button but I do vent NG and OG tubes frequently. I always do your "first" method and I have never vented as you describe in your "second" method nor do I understand how that would constitute as venting the patient for 10 to 15 minutes. I just do as you describe and attach an empty syringe without the plunger to the unclamped tubing.

The part that I differ with is that I always hold or secure the syringe above the patient, not below. With gravity, air is going to rise, while the stomach contents stay down. If you put the syringe below the patient, you are more likely just going to leak the stomach contents out and less likely to get the air out. Sometimes, I will see a little bit of the stomach fluid/feeding come up the tubing, but if you hold the syringe higher, it will fall back into the stomach. Also, air is not going to just flow into the stomach unless you push it in. Remember, air rises naturally!

Hope that helped.

Ms_Bee · Apr 20, 2011

I haven't vented a mickey button but I do vent NG and OG tubes frequently. I always do your "first" method and I have never vented as you describe in your "second" method nor do I understand how that would constitute as venting the patient for 10 to 15 minutes. I just do as you describe and attach an empty syringe without the plunger to the unclamped tubing.
The part that I differ with is that I always hold or secure the syringe above the patient, not below. With gravity, air is going to rise, while the stomach contents stay down. If you put the syringe below the patient, you are more likely just going to leak the stomach contents out and less likely to get the air out. Sometimes, I will see a little bit of the stomach fluid/feeding come up the tubing, but if you hold the syringe higher, it will fall back into the stomach. Also, air is not going to just flow into the stomach unless you push it in. Remember, air rises naturally!
Hope that helped.

Thanks that certainly helped. I am just a bit confused. In school when we would give medications or anything through the g-tube our instructors always told us to clamp as soon as the syringe was empty so that air would not be going into the stomach between meds and flushing. So that is why I thought if you held the syringe above that patient that air would just be filling into the stomach.

rockabye · Apr 20, 2011

Thanks that certainly helped. I am just a bit confused. In school when we would give medications or anything through the g-tube our instructors always told us to clamp as soon as the syringe was empty so that air would not be going into the stomach between meds and flushing. So that is why I thought if you held the syringe above that patient that air would just be filling into the stomach.

I always clamp the tubing too, but my rationale is to prevent back flow of the meds and flush, especially if the stomach is full. The only way air is going to get in the stomach is if you purposefully push air in through a syringe, or if the tubing is empty and then you flush fluid behind it, which then only the amount of air that was in the tubing will be pushed in. To prevent the air in the empty tubing, you can prime the tubing first. A little bit of air in the stomach isn't going to cause much of a problem. It's like drinking a carbonated beverage.

caliotter3 · Apr 20, 2011

We obtain an order for venting the GT and I've always done it the way described here. Just leave it vented for a certain amount of time. One of my moms wanted me to prop the syringe for about 20 minutes or so. I had to be creative to keep it from getting knocked over and having stomach contents spill out onto the bedding.

Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

I would connect the extension tubing and 60 cc syringe and hang it from the feeding pole with a couple feet of gauze. That way it can't get knocked over. If they are an older child or adult there is a risk they would pull it down or play with it, so use the same "protective" methods (running it around the side and up the back) as you would during the feeding.