Patient safety alert on placement devices for nasogastric tube insertion

Source:  NHS England

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Date of publication:  December 2013

Publication type:  News item

In a nutshell:  NHS England has issued a patient safety alert on the use of placement devices for inserting nasogastric tubes. Available from the Central Alerting System (CAS), this alert will ensure all hospitals and community services that use nasogastric tubes continue to follow previous guidance issued by the National Patient Safety Agency even when placement devices are used. It has been issued in response to two recently reported patient safety incidents.

Length of Publication:  1 web page

Harm from flushing of nasogastric tubes before confirmation of placement

Source:  National Reporting and Learning System, NPSA

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Date of publication: March 2012

Publication type:  Reports

In a nutshell: This is one of 7 signals recently published on Medication safety.  It focusses on the importance of insuring that nasogastric tubes are correctly placed.  The report has been published in response to two patient deaths from wrongly sited tubes.

Length of publication:  1 web page

Patient Safety matters : reducing the risks of nasogastric tubes

Source:  Clinical Medicine: Journal of the Royal College of Physicians.  10(3)  pp. 228-230

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Date of publication:  June 2010

Publication type:  Journal article

In a nutshell:  The procedure of inserting nasogastric tubes by nurses and doctors is common within NHS hospital.  There have been a number of reports issued over the past 30 years into the results of wrong insertion, even death.  This article looks at the safety alert issued by the National Patient Safety Agency in England and how effective this has been to prevent errors from wrong insertion.

Length of publication:  3 pages

Some important notes:  Please  contact your local NHS library for the full text of the article.  Follow this link to find your local NHS library

Acknowledgements:  EMBASE.