Nestle HealthCare Nutrition (Nestle Nutrition) has launched 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's (ASPEN) enteral nutrition practice recommendations.
Nestle Nutrition has also developed SpikeRight, an enteral-specific port with a screw-top design that reduces compatibility with intravenous sets, thereby reducing the risk of tubing misconnections.
The company said that the ‘Be AWARE’ initiative 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 initiative is expected to be implemented in hospitals nationwide to help reduce the risk of medication errors and improve patient outcomes. It helps in administering medication using a clean oral or enteral syringe.
In releasing recommendations for improving enteral feeding safety, 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.
Carol Siegel, head of medical affairs at Nestle Nutrition, said: “We are committed to raising awareness about safe tube-feeding practices. 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.”
Peggi Guenter, director of clinical practice, advocacy, and research affairs at ASPEN, said: “The ‘Be Aware’ campaign is an essential tool and supplement to ASPEN ‘s Enteral Nutrition Practice Recommendations. We are 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.”