Safer Feeding Tube Design

Children who use feeding tubes, including a nasal or oral-gastric, nasal-jejunal, gastrostomy or gastro-jejunostomy feeding tube, now benefit from a new, safer feeding tube design being used at Lurie Children’s.

This design change is recommended by national patient safety organizations. In an effort to continuously provide the best and safest care for children, Lurie Children’s is one of the first hospitals in the nation to use the new design, called ENFit™. 

The ENFit Design

The goal of the new design is to make sure that syringes and feeding bags, meant for giving medicine or formula into a feeding tube, can ONLY be connected to a feeding tube. The ENFit design will help prevent medicine or formula, meant for a feeding tube, from being given into a non-feeding tube medical device such as an intravenous line (IV). 

The distal end of the feeding tubes, or the end outside of your child’s body, where syringes or feeding bags are attached, will change. In addition, the end of the syringe and feeding bag will change.

Using the ENFit Design at Home

There are many companies that provide feeding bags, pumps and syringes for children with feeding tubes. The transition to ENFit may not happen at the same time for all of the companies. Some companies may provide a transition adapter with feeding bags and syringes until they can change all of their products to the ENFit design. 

Lurie Children’s recommends the following:

• Discuss ENFit options with your home health agency and/or medical equipment company.   
• Check your supplies when they arrive. Be sure that the feeding bag and syringes will attach to your child’s tube; or that an adapter has been included. 
• Discuss ENFit options at your next outpatient appointment or inpatient stay at Lurie Children’s.

Questions

If you have any questions, contact Case Management at 312.227.0601; or e-mail Joan Cullen at jcullen@luriechildrens.org .

Families of children with gastrostomy tubes may call the Pediatric Surgery office at 312.227.4210 with questions.