Picture this: you have a patient with a new feeding tube, or a caregiver looking after someone recently who’s just transitioned to enteral nutrition...
Picture this: you have a patient with a new feeding tube, or a caregiver looking after someone recently who’s just transitioned to enteral nutrition.
You know this is a massive life change—one that requires guidance and care.
As a healthcare professional, you understand that the transition from hospital to home is critical. One of the most impactful things you can do is equip patients and caregivers with the right education and tools from day one.
Even if your facility already has a discharge protocol in place, these evidence-informed tips can help enhance your patients education process and help reduce complications post-discharge.
The skin around the stoma is vulnerable and requires proactive care. Leakage can lead to skin breakdown ranging from mild irritation to severe wounds. In some cases, patients may need wound care referrals or surgical intervention. Preventing this breakdown can significantly improve comfort, improve quality of life and help control pain.
While several over-the-counter treatments exist, only one is specifically formulated for individuals with gastric and/or jejunal stomas. This innovative StomaEase™ powder is designed for enteral to help control stoma leakage and stoma skin irritations. The powder can hold 2-3 times its volume in fluid. After absorbing the leakage, it turns into a hydrogel without sticking to the skin’s surface. The hydrogel can then be gently wiped off with water and a cloth or sponge. The StomaEase™ helps keep the stoma site dry, which promotes healing, helps neutralize odors and offers targeted protection and peace of mind.
In some cases, patients experience weight loss post-placement, causing a gap between the tube and catheter's external disc/bolster which can increase the risk of leakage and granulomas. The StomaDisc™ can help bridge this gap and stabilize the feeding tube. It’s 6mm in thickness, made of medical grade silicone, reusable material and holds the StomaEase™ powder in place for added leakage protection.
Related Read: Tackling Enteral Stoma Leakage
Proper hygiene is crucial when handling enteral feeding supplies (this includes compliance to basic food hygiene practices!).
The ENFit® connector is a valuable safety innovation, but the design can make cleaning a challenge. Why? Because it often traps formulas and bacteria in the internal threads and the moat. Improper cleaning could result in this connector acting much like a petri dish and allow bacteria to flourish. Over time, this residue can become a source of contamination if not properly cleaned. You wouldn’t want your patient to eat off a dirty plate, so you shouldn’t connect the feeding equipment without making sure it’s clean. Under ideal conditions, the ENFit® connector should be cleaned before and after each feeding or reconnection to the feeding source and/or administration of medicines.
Another potential issue that your patients may experience is also related to enteral formula and/or medication accumulation inside the ENFit® connector. This could result in such materials becoming impacted into the internal bottom moat area, which could lead to leakage and/or difficulty with connecting and disconnecting the ENFit® Male and Female connectors.
Many users have tried cleaning ENFit® Connectors with a toothbrush or dental picks, only to find it ineffective. A toothbrush cannot clean the complex undersides of the ENFit’s® internal screw threads, possibly resulting in excessive bacterial colonization. The toothbrush could also “spray” the debris into the air and onto the user, patient or into the feeding lumen. That’s where the germ resistant, EnClean® Brush, comes in. It’s specifically designed to clean the complicated internal threads and moat area of ENFit® Connectors, while avoiding debris from entering into the feeding lumen. This should be an important consideration especially for immunocompromised and/or neonatal patients.
If you’re not familiar, the EnClean® Brush is a 4-head Brush designed for robust and quick cleaning. The stiff 1mm thickness stainless-steel brush heads provide high torque usage for scraping clean the moat area. The brush bristles are designed to clean the complex undersides of the internal ENFit® screw threads and are germ resistant via silver embedded nylon. And most importantly, the EnClean® brush plugs the feeding lumen while cleaning the formula and medication residue to reduce the risk of bacteria laden debris from entering the catheters lumen. What’s more, the single patient brush is reusable for up to 30 days.
The EnClean® brush can be dipped in either water, mouthwash or saline solution several times until the ENFit® connector is clean. After usage the brush has an aerated cap to protect it while drying. For step-by-step cleaning procedures, refer to the guidelines on our IFU.
Related: Watch our food safety video series!
We hope these tips were helpful! We welcome any recommendations to continually update this guide.
Do you see a gap in patient care? Here at LumaCleanCares, we identify gaps in care and design medical devices to advance the patient experience. Are you a medical professional interested in learning more about our products? Do you have an idea for a medical device, regardless of healthcare type? Are you an enteral feeding patient with questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!
