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Your patient has a PEG tube and you are about to administer a feeding. While checking residual, you obtain 95 mL stomach content. What would be your next nursing intervention?

a. Discard the aspirate and proceed with the feeding
b. Hold the feeding and notify the healthcare provider
c. Flush the tube and repeat the residual check
d. Administer the feeding slowly, monitoring the patient's response

User Chongman
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

When a PEG tube feeding residual check yields 95 mL of stomach content, the nurse should refer to the healthcare facility's policies and specific instructions from the healthcare provider. Commonly, feedings are held if the residual is over 100-150 mL. In this case, one would need to assess patient-specific factors and established guidelines.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question pertains to the appropriate nursing intervention when a PEG tube feeding residual check yields 95 mL of stomach content. The decision on what step to take next depends on the policies of the healthcare facility and the specific instructions of the healthcare provider, as there is no universally accepted volume that dictates when to withhold a feeding. However, a common practice is to hold the feeding if the residual is greater than 100-150 mL for adults, or if the patient shows symptoms of gastrointestinal intolerance such as nausea, vomiting, or distension.

If the residual amount is less than the threshold and there are no signs of intolerance, some protocols suggest returning the aspirate and proceeding with the feeding. In this scenario, as the residual is 95 mL, you would need to consider the patient's individual circumstances and whether there have been any previously established parameters.

User Brian Riehman
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