This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Seifert, C. F. Articles by Johnston, B. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Seifert, C. F. Articles by Johnston, B. A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

A Nationwide Survey of Long-Term Care Facilities to Determine the Characteristics of Medication Administration through Enteral Feeding Catheters

Charles F. Seifert, PharmD, FCCP, BCPS^*
Barbara A. Johnston, PhD, RN

^* School of Pharmacy and the School of Nursing, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas

Correspondence: Correspondence: Charles F. Seifert, PharmD, FCCP, BCPS, School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601 4^th Street, MS 8162, Lubbock, TX 79430. Electronic mail may be sent to charles.seifert{at}ttuhsc.edu.

Previous data clearly showed profound differences in nursing practices and techniques within the state of Texas regarding the administration of medications through enteral feeding catheters (EFCs) between long-term care (LTC) facilities that predominantly serve a rural vs an urban population. This study aims to determine the incidence and characteristics of medication administration through EFCs in the LTC setting in the United States with particular emphasis on the delineation between practices in facilities that predominantly serve a rural vs an urban population. A 36-item validated survey was mailed to the Directors of Nursing of the 16,400 LTC facilities registered with the U.S. Medicare LTC facility database registry. In all, 1278 (7.8%) surveys were included in this analysis. The majority of nurses responding were RNs (93%), with extensive years of experience (19 years), working in facilities predominantly serving a rural area (58%). There were significant differences between rural and urban facilities with regard to the percent of patients receiving medications through EFCs (6.6% vs 9.0%, p < .0001), number of oral medications/day (8.3 vs 9.4, p = .0003), amount of flush before and after administering medications (64 mL vs 59 mL, p = .0127), those attending a seminar/in-service on medication administration through EFCs (45% vs 56%, p < .0001), and medication obstruction rate (6.4% vs 3.9%, p = .0227). Medication obstruction rate was significantly increased when nurses used 3 or more inappropriate techniques (8.1% vs 4.8%, p = .0171), particularly crushing enteric-coated (8.9% vs 4.6%, p = .0003) and sustained-release dosage forms (8.5% vs 4.7%, p < .0001). Medication obstruction through EFCs is significantly increased when 3 or more inappropriate techniques are utilized. Techniques, complications, and sources of information vary significantly from rural to urban facilities and various parts of the country. A universal set of guidelines to administer medications through EFCs should be adopted and widely disseminated particularly to LTC facilities in rural areas.

Nutrition in Clinical Practice, Vol. 20, No. 3, 354-362 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0115426505020003354


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. Hanssens, D. Woods, A. Alsulaiti, F. Adheir, N. Al-Meer, and N. Obaidan Improving Oral Medicine Administration in Patients with Swallowing Problems and Feeding Tubes Ann. Pharmacother., December 1, 2006; 40(12): 2142 - 2147. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]