{"title":"Medication Administration Through Feeding Tubes in a Tertiary Hospital: A Retrospective Observational Study.","authors":"Yuanchao Zhu, Bolin Zhu, Pengfei Jin","doi":"10.2147/RMHP.S500557","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aim: </strong>This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and types of errors associated with oral medication administration via feeding tubes (FTs) in a tertiary hospital in Beijing.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A retrospective observational study was conducted at Beijing Hospital between January 2018 and December 2022. All inpatients aged of 18 and above who received at least one oral medication via FTs were included. Medical records were meticulously collected and analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 7,243 patients were identified as part of the tube feeding group, representing a prevalence rate of 6.26% among hospitalized patients receiving oral medication. Compared to the general hospitalized population, patients in the tube feeding group exhibited a higher proportion of male patients (59.74% vs 48.91%), older age [(68.00±14.99) vs (59.75±16.38)], lower weight [(65.75±13.32) vs (67.82±12.72)], increased rates of being bedridden (18.06% vs 5.38%), longer hospital stay [(21.56±28.12) vs (8.88±10.38)], and a greater number of prescribed medication types [(51.21±19.37) vs (23.35±15.04)]. On average, patients in the tube feeding group were administered 8.92±6.78 types of oral medications. A significant percentage of patients in the tube feeding group experienced inappropriate medication administration, reaching 65.43%. Among these cases, the rate of inappropriate medication administration for patients receiving nasogastric tube and nasojejunal tube were 64.06% (4186/6535) and 78.11% (553/708), respectively. In total, there were 10,164 instances of inappropriate medication administration, averaging 1.40 times per patient in the tube feeding group. Inappropriate medications included enteric-coated drugs, modified-released, soft capsules, and other non-crushable drugs.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our results Our findings highlight a significant issue of inappropriate medication administration via FTs. Ensuring the accurate administration of orally prescribed medications to patients with FTs is a complex task that requires immediate attention.</p>","PeriodicalId":56009,"journal":{"name":"Risk Management and Healthcare Policy","volume":"18 ","pages":"319-328"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11796436/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Risk Management and Healthcare Policy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S500557","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Aim: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and types of errors associated with oral medication administration via feeding tubes (FTs) in a tertiary hospital in Beijing.
Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted at Beijing Hospital between January 2018 and December 2022. All inpatients aged of 18 and above who received at least one oral medication via FTs were included. Medical records were meticulously collected and analyzed.
Results: A total of 7,243 patients were identified as part of the tube feeding group, representing a prevalence rate of 6.26% among hospitalized patients receiving oral medication. Compared to the general hospitalized population, patients in the tube feeding group exhibited a higher proportion of male patients (59.74% vs 48.91%), older age [(68.00±14.99) vs (59.75±16.38)], lower weight [(65.75±13.32) vs (67.82±12.72)], increased rates of being bedridden (18.06% vs 5.38%), longer hospital stay [(21.56±28.12) vs (8.88±10.38)], and a greater number of prescribed medication types [(51.21±19.37) vs (23.35±15.04)]. On average, patients in the tube feeding group were administered 8.92±6.78 types of oral medications. A significant percentage of patients in the tube feeding group experienced inappropriate medication administration, reaching 65.43%. Among these cases, the rate of inappropriate medication administration for patients receiving nasogastric tube and nasojejunal tube were 64.06% (4186/6535) and 78.11% (553/708), respectively. In total, there were 10,164 instances of inappropriate medication administration, averaging 1.40 times per patient in the tube feeding group. Inappropriate medications included enteric-coated drugs, modified-released, soft capsules, and other non-crushable drugs.
Conclusion: Our results Our findings highlight a significant issue of inappropriate medication administration via FTs. Ensuring the accurate administration of orally prescribed medications to patients with FTs is a complex task that requires immediate attention.
期刊介绍:
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal focusing on all aspects of public health, policy and preventative measures to promote good health and improve morbidity and mortality in the population. Specific topics covered in the journal include:
Public and community health
Policy and law
Preventative and predictive healthcare
Risk and hazard management
Epidemiology, detection and screening
Lifestyle and diet modification
Vaccination and disease transmission/modification programs
Health and safety and occupational health
Healthcare services provision
Health literacy and education
Advertising and promotion of health issues
Health economic evaluations and resource management
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy focuses on human interventional and observational research. The journal welcomes submitted papers covering original research, clinical and epidemiological studies, reviews and evaluations, guidelines, expert opinion and commentary, and extended reports. Case reports will only be considered if they make a valuable and original contribution to the literature. The journal does not accept study protocols, animal-based or cell line-based studies.