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How enteral feeding tubes affect medicines

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Topics: AdministeringEnteral tubes

Overview of enteral feeding tubes, medicine selection, feed interactions, administration techniques, and managing tube blockages.

This article forms part of a series
  1. How enteral feeding tubes affect medicines
    1. Knowing the types of enteral tube
    2. Choosing medicines for enteral tube administration
    3. Managing interactions between medicines and enteral feeds
    4. Administering a medicine through an enteral feeding tube
    5. Preventing and managing enteral feeding tube blockages
Contents
  1. Enteral feeding tube
  2. Considerations
  3. Update history

Enteral feeding tube

Enteral tube feeding is recommended in people who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, have inadequate or unsafe oral intake, and a functional, accessible gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

Enteral feeding tubes are also frequently used for medication administration in people who cannot swallow safely.

Considerations

Incorrect administration of medicines through enteral feeding tubes may: 

  • reduce the medicine effect 
  • increase medicine related side effects 
  • trigger interactions between the medicine and feed
  • block the enteral feeding tube 

This series of articles provides a general overview of enteral feeding tubes, considerations for dosage form selection, and common drug interactions with enteral feeds. It also discusses drug administration techniques, and methods to minimise and manage tube blockages.

Update history

  1. Republished
  2. Article expanded to a six article series, with additional content covering administration of medicines via enteral feeding tubes
  1. Published

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