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The danger of tube misconnections – Tuesday Tube Fact

Did you know…?

It is common to see patients in the hospital with a feeding tube, an arterial catheter, and a central venous catheter, which all have the same connector. A misconnection is physiologically incompatible with life, and if enteral feeding is placed inside the IV line, it would be like concrete pouring into a patient’s heart.[1]

References:

  1. Simmons, Debra. “Keeping Everyone Safe: Tubing Misconnections.” The Oley Foundation, accessed 21 Feb. 2022, https://oley.org/page/DebSimmonsTubeMis

Most NG Tube Misplacements Occurred in Older Adults – Tuesday Tube Facts

Most NG Tube Misplacements Occurred in Older Adults – Tuesday Tube Facts

Nearly 68% of malpositioned nasogastric feeding tubes occurred in adults between 60 and 89 years old.*

These events took place in Pennsylvania between 2011 and 2016. About half of the misplacements were discovered with a chest x-ray.*

* Wallace SC. Data Snapshot: Complications Linked to Iatrogenic Enteral Feeding Tube Misplacements. Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory, 2017; 14:1-60.

More than half of misplacements reported as Serious Events – Tuesday Tube Facts

More than half of misplacements reported as Serious Events – Tuesday Tube Facts

In Pennsylvania, 56% of nasogastric feeding tube misplacements were reported as Serious Events.1

1.2% of those misplacements resulted in death.1

In 2016, a $5 million verdict was awarded following a patient’s death due to a misplaced feeding tube at a Philadelphia-area hospital.2

1. Wallace, SC. Data Snapshot: Complications Linked to Iatrogenic Enteral Feeding Tube Misplacements. Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory, 2017; 14:1-60.

2. McCrystal, Laura. (2016, 16 May). Montco jury awards $5 million in hospital death [online]. The Inquirer. Accessed July 8, 2019