TY - JOUR
T1 - Enteral Feeding Set Handling Techniques
T2 - A Comparison of Bacterial Growth, Nursing Time, Labor, and Material Costs
AU - Lyman, Beth
AU - Williams, Maria
AU - Sollazzo, Janet
AU - Hayden, Ashley
AU - Hensley, Pam
AU - Dai, Hongying
AU - Roberts, Cristine
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Background: Enteral nutrition therapy is common practice in pediatric clinical settings. Often patients will receive a pump-assisted bolus feeding over 30 minutes several times per day using the same enteral feeding set (EFS). This study aims to determine the safest and most efficacious way to handle the EFS between feedings. Methods: Three EFS handling techniques were compared through simulation for bacterial growth, nursing time, and supply costs: (1) rinsing the EFS with sterile water after each feeding, (2) refrigerating the EFS between feedings, and (3) using a ready-to-hang (RTH) product maintained at room temperature. Cultures were obtained at baseline, hour 12, and hour 21 of the 24-hour cycle. A time-in-motion analysis was conducted and reported in average number of seconds to complete each procedure. Supply costs were inventoried for 1 month comparing the actual usage to our estimated usage. Results: Of 1080 cultures obtained, the overall bacterial growth rate was 8.7%. The rinse and refrigeration techniques displayed similar bacterial growth (11.4% vs 10.3%, P =.63). The RTH technique displayed the least bacterial growth of any method (4.4%, P =.002). The time analysis in minutes showed the rinse method was the most time-consuming (44.8 ± 2.7) vs refrigeration (35.8 ± 2.6) and RTH (31.08 ± 0.6) (P <.0001). Conclusions: All 3 EFS handling techniques displayed low bacterial growth. RTH was superior in bacterial growth, nursing time, and supply costs. Since not all pediatric formulas are available in RTH, we conclude that refrigerating the EFS between uses is the next most efficacious method for handling the EFS between bolus feeds.
AB - Background: Enteral nutrition therapy is common practice in pediatric clinical settings. Often patients will receive a pump-assisted bolus feeding over 30 minutes several times per day using the same enteral feeding set (EFS). This study aims to determine the safest and most efficacious way to handle the EFS between feedings. Methods: Three EFS handling techniques were compared through simulation for bacterial growth, nursing time, and supply costs: (1) rinsing the EFS with sterile water after each feeding, (2) refrigerating the EFS between feedings, and (3) using a ready-to-hang (RTH) product maintained at room temperature. Cultures were obtained at baseline, hour 12, and hour 21 of the 24-hour cycle. A time-in-motion analysis was conducted and reported in average number of seconds to complete each procedure. Supply costs were inventoried for 1 month comparing the actual usage to our estimated usage. Results: Of 1080 cultures obtained, the overall bacterial growth rate was 8.7%. The rinse and refrigeration techniques displayed similar bacterial growth (11.4% vs 10.3%, P =.63). The RTH technique displayed the least bacterial growth of any method (4.4%, P =.002). The time analysis in minutes showed the rinse method was the most time-consuming (44.8 ± 2.7) vs refrigeration (35.8 ± 2.6) and RTH (31.08 ± 0.6) (P <.0001). Conclusions: All 3 EFS handling techniques displayed low bacterial growth. RTH was superior in bacterial growth, nursing time, and supply costs. Since not all pediatric formulas are available in RTH, we conclude that refrigerating the EFS between uses is the next most efficacious method for handling the EFS between bolus feeds.
KW - bacteria
KW - enteral nutrition
KW - food safety
KW - infection control
KW - pediatrics
KW - safety
KW - tube feeding
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018331319&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85018331319&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0884533616680840
DO - 10.1177/0884533616680840
M3 - Article
C2 - 28362574
AN - SCOPUS:85018331319
VL - 32
SP - 193
EP - 200
JO - Nutrition in Clinical Practice
JF - Nutrition in Clinical Practice
SN - 0884-5336
IS - 2
ER -