TITLE:
Knowledge and Tube Feeding Practices for Older Adult Patients among Japanese Registered Nurses
AUTHORS:
Mihoko Ogita, Hiroko Utsunomiya, Kazuko Nin, Hidenori Arai
KEYWORDS:
Tube Feeding; Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy; Older Adults; Knowledge; Practice; Nursing; Multidisciplinary Team
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Clinical Medicine,
Vol.4 No.4,
April
30,
2013
ABSTRACT: The aim
of this study was to examine nurses’ thinking regarding the indications for
tube feeding in older adults with eating difficulties and to determine whether
the team approach can improve their knowledge and tube feeding practices. We
sent self-administered questionnaires to 436 nurses and collected them from
November to December 2010 (response rate, 70.0%). The results
indicated that approximately 30% of the Japanese nurses thought that older
patients with dementia should be on tube feeding and more than half of the
nurses answered that tube feeding is indicated for aspiration-prone, frail,
older adults. Moreover, our findings showed that nurses who organize
multidisciplinary teams performed more interventions for dysphagia before
introducing tube feeding than the reference group as analyzed by multivariate
adjustment (odds ratio, 2.1-6.6).
In conclusion, a multidisciplinary team approach is expected to make better
decisions on the treatment and care of older patients with difficulty eating,
including the need for tube feeding