Reducing outpatient gastrostomy tube complications

OBJECTIVE: To monitor the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary education protocol for gastrostomy tube (GT) use and care for patients to reduce complications postplacement. METHODS: Baseline assessment included a preintervention/intervention design through quantitative measures to determine reduction in the number of GT complications postprocedure following implementation of a patient education protocol for 16 patients in the study. INTERVENTION: A multidisciplinary approach was used in protocol development for standardizing patient education. Verbal, written, and hands-on demonstration methods for GT care were used to provide multiple education pathways to increase patient knowledge. Over the progression of 8 months (July 2019 to March 2020), patients with a new GT were followed postprocedure (1-2 weeks prior to starting radiation treatments) and throughout their course of radiation treatments (typically 6-7 weeks). RESULTS: All 16 patients (100%) in the intervention group were included in the final analysis. GT complications were reduced from 91% in the preintervention group (n = 11) to 37% in the intervention group (n = 16). The most significant reduction occurred in technique issues, which decreased from 36% (n = 4) to 0%. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a multidisciplinary approach with multiple educational sessions prior to GT placement and use led to increased patient knowledge and reduced GT complications.