I read with interest, the January/February, 2006 (Vol. 25, No. 1) article, “Implementation of an Enteral Nutrition and Medication Administration System Utilizing Oral Syringes in the NICU.” The inadvertent administration of an enteral product intravenously is certainly a safety concern for all NICUs. Our institution began addressing this more than a decade ago by first converting all oral medications to a unit dose system dispensed only in oral syringes. I was surprised by the incompatibility between oral syringes and orogastric, nasogastric, or nasojejunal tubes, cited by the authors, as one of the contributing factors in preventing them from making this conversion. Over the years we have used several brands of NG/OG tubes that easily accommodate the intermittent use of oral syringes. They do not have luer-lok hubs that preclude the use of an oral syringe. The feeding tubes that we generally use for transpyloric placement (duodenal/jejunal), often have a medication port that easily accommodates an oral syringe.
PP010—Medication self-administration in hospitalised patients: an evaluation using data from an electronic prescribing and medication administration system
