Drugs and feeding tubes

Abstract

Objective. To define the prevalence of use of drugs incompatible with the enteral route in patients living in long stay institutions for the elderly LTCFs and using feeding tubes. MethOds. Analysis of prescriptions for LTCF inpatients who are using feeding tubes for longer than 48 hours. Active ingredients, forms of presentation, and possibility of pulverizing the drugs prescribed were compared with data in the literature regarding the feasibility of the enteral administration of drugs. Results. We found that 57 patients were using feeding tubes (11.2% of the total number of beds). Their mean age was 65.6 ± 16.0 years old, and 32 of them were women and 25 were men. Mean of drugs administered through enteral route: 5.6 ± 2.2. Items included in the prescriptions: 316. divided into 64 drugs, with 129 items (40.8% of the total) and 23 drugs (35.4%) inadequate for this route. The most often prescribed inappropriate drugs: captopril, phenytoin, ranitidine, omeprazole, and B complex. Alternative presentations were found for 15 (65.2%) of the 23 drugs that were not appropriate for enteral administration. Conclusion. Feeding tubes used as a method to administer drugs in LTCF have a significant risk for incompatible prescriptions.