Gastric tube insertion in preterm infants: Prevalence analysis of measurement techniques

Abstract

Objective: to identify the prevalence of measurement techniques used by the neonatal intensive care unit nursing team for gastric tube insertion in preterm newborns. Method: in this cross-sectional study, carried out between May and August 2018 at a university hospital in Rio de Janeiro City, the participants were 52 health professionals. Data were collected by self-completed questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study was approved by the research ethics committee. Results: six different techniques were found, which varied by route of insertion (oral or nasal). Half of these have not been described in the literature. Conclusion: the most prevalent techniques were CEX (labial commissure-earlobe-xiphoid), NEX (nose-earlobe-xiphoid) and ENX (earlobe-nose-xiphoid). However, none has been validated for neonatology due to the lack of research directed to newborns.