Practices Involved in the Enteral Delivery of Drugs

• Published in: Current nutrition reports Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 356 - 362
• Main Authors: Bandy, Kathryn S., Albrecht, Stephanie, Parag, Bhavyata, McClave, Stephen A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2019
• Subjects: Cardiology; Clinical Nutrition; Critical Care; Diabetes; Gastroenterology; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Lifestyle Medicine; Lifestyle Medicine (SA McClave; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Oncology; Section Editor; Topical Collection on Gastroenterology; Critical care; Adverse effects; Enteral nutrition; Drug administration
• ISSN: 2161-3311; 2161-3311
• DOI: 10.1007/s13668-019-00290-4

Purpose of Review While the delivery of medications through enteral tubes is common in critically ill patients, there are complications and a lack of unified practices between institutions. The purpose of this review is to evaluate current practices and literature evidence regarding this administration route. The effect of this administration on the medication’s efficacy, safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics was examined, as well as other considerations to ensure that this route of delivery is both safe and effective for patients. Recent Findings Studies have found crushed oral tablets are the most frequent cause of obstructed feeding tubes. Complications such as this are primarily due to inadequate personnel training and failure to properly access medications before enteral administration. Summary There are many factors that should be considered in order to effectively administer drugs via enteral tubes. Formal training and use of a multi-disciplinary approach that includes pharmacists and dieticians has been shown to reduce tube obstructions and administration errors.