Reducing outpatient gastrostomy tube complications

Objective To monitor the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary education protocol for gastrostomy tube (GT) use and care for patients to reduce complications postplacement. Methods Baseline assessment included a preintervention/intervention design through quantitative measures to determine reduction in the number of GT complications postprocedure following implementation of a patient education protocol for 16 patients in the study. Intervention A multidisciplinary approach was used in protocol development for standardizing patient education. Verbal, written, and hands-on demonstration methods for GT care were used to provide multiple education pathways to increase patient knowledge. Over the progression of 8 months (July 2019 to March 2020), patients with a new GT were followed postprocedure (1-2 weeks prior to starting radiation treatments) and throughout their course of radiation treatments (typically 6-7 weeks). Results All 16 patients (100%) in the intervention group were included in the final analysis. GT complications were reduced from 91% in the preintervention group (n = 11) to 37% in the intervention group (n = 16). The most significant reduction occurred in technique issues, which decreased from 36% (n = 4) to 0%. Conclusions Implementation of a multidisciplinary approach with multiple educational sessions prior to GT placement and use led to increased patient knowledge and reduced GT complications.

Automated summary

The multidisciplinary education protocol for gastrostomy tube (GT) use and care effectively reduced complications postplacement, demonstrating the importance of patient education in reducing adverse events.