Nursing Care for Enteral Nutrition

Enteral nutrition provides fluids and nutrients directly into the GI tract through a feeding tube. As a healthcare professional, you’ll be responsible for caring for patients receiving enteral nutrition.

Now, enteral nutrition might be especially helpful for patients who have difficulty chewing or swallowing as a result of head or neck trauma; surgery; coma; dementia; nervous system disorders; or tumors of the head, neck, or esophagus.

Now, there are various ways a feeding tube can go into the GI tract. The most common one is a nasogastric, or NG, tube that goes through the nose and then down into the stomach. A naso-intestinal, or NI tube, also goes through the nose, but it ends in the small intestines.

Tubes can also be inserted through a surgical opening, or stoma, in the abdominal wall and into the stomach, known as a gastrostomy tube, or G-tube. A common type of gastrostomy tube is a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube, or PEG tube for short, that’s inserted directly into the stomach percutaneously with endoscopic guidance. Finally, tubes can also be inserted into a part of the small intestine called the jejunum, known as a jejunostomy tube, or J-tube.

J-tubes, G-tubes, and PEG tubes are usually inserted if long-term tube feedings are anticipated and are typically used for more than six weeks; whereas NG and NI tubes are mostly preferred when tube feedings are needed for a short period of time, typically a few days or up to six weeks.

Once the feeding tube is inserted, its placement is confirmed by X-ray. After that, your patient can start receiving enteral nutrition through the tube. There are different types of nutritional formulas that can be ordered depending on your patient’s needs. When you first start a feeding, you’ll usually begin feeding slowly while you watch for nausea, abdominal pain, or diarrhea that could indicate feeding intolerance. If the initial rate and amount of feeding is tolerated, the feedings can be increased to the desired amount.