Oral drug administration by enteral tube in adults at a tertiary teaching hospital

Abstract

Summary Background & aims Despite potential risks, the practice of giving oral drugs by enteral tube seems to be common in hospitals around the world. The aims of this study were to describe the frequency of oral drug administration by enteral tube, the number of tablets given per day, and the percentage of adults receiving enteral nutrition who also received intravenous medications in a tertiary teaching hospital. Methods This retrospective, cross-sectional study included all adults submitted to exclusive enteral nutrition ( n = 170) on the wards of a university hospital. Medical charts were perused to obtain relevant clinical information, including the prescriptions for each patient, the number and frequency of oral drugs administered by tube, and the frequency of concurrent medications given intravenously. Results Only 18.2% of the cases did not receive any drug by enteral tube. The remaining 81.2% ( n = 139) of patients received a median of 10 [range 1–76] tablets/day and 4 [1–17] different pharmaceutical formulations/day; 72.8% of cases also received drugs by the intravenous route. The most often used drugs were captopril, acetylsalicylic acid, ranitidine, simvastatin, and phenytoin. Conclusions The practice of giving crushed tablets by enteral tube is very common on the general medical and surgical wards of our hospital, even when similar intravenous options are available.