Nestle HealthCare Nutrition, Healthcare Professionals Join Forces to Improve Patient Safety

Nestle HealthCare Nutrition has announced the launch of a new initiative to promote safer medication delivery through an enteral feeding tube in hospitals based on the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) Enteral Nutrition Practice Recommendations.

The "Be A.W.A.R.E." campaign is designed to increase awareness and knowledge of the simple steps needed to increase patient safety among medical professionals who deliver medications to hospital patients. The "Be A.W.A.R.E." campaign will be implemented in hospitals nationwide to help reduce the risk of medication errors and improve patient outcomes.

In releasing recommendations for improving enteral feeding safety last year, ASPEN noted that practice differs considerably from guidelines for medication delivery through the enteral route. Surveys found that practitioners failed to complete certain simple practices and that such failures may contribute to measurable adverse outcomes. Practices that have been noted to be of concern include:

* failing to flush enteral feeding tubes before or between medications;
* administering multiple drugs together;
* improperly diluting liquid medication; and
* crushing modified-release dosage forms.

"We are committed to raising awareness about safe tube-feeding practices," says Carol Siegel, MS, RD, head of medical affairs for Nestle Nutrition. "Medication delivery errors can have serious consequences. This is a serious problem that needs industry-wide recognition. It will require the attention and collaboration of hospitals, healthcare professionals, quality improvement groups and manufacturers to improve patient safety."

The "Be A.W.A.R.E." campaign promotes simple steps including:

* ceasing addition of medication directly into an enteral feeding formula;
* administering each medication separately;
* flushing the tube before and after each medication is administered;
* diluting solid or liquid medication as appropriate; and
* administering medication using a clean oral or enteral syringe.

"The Be A.W.A.R.E. campaign is an essential tool and supplement to ASPEN's Enteral Nutrition Practice Recommendations," says Peggi Guenter, PhD, RN, CNSN, director for clinical practice, advocacy, and research affairs at A.S.P.E.N. "We are very excited about this program because it distills critical information about delivering enteral medication correctly and safely into an easy-to-read guide for all healthcare practitioners."

Source: Nestle HealthCare Nutrition