Sub acute gastric residuals elimination change project

Area of Science:

• Clinical Nursing Practice
• Patient Safety
• Gastroenterology

Background:

• Gastric residual volume (GRV) checks are a traditional nursing practice for patients on enteral tube feedings.
• Concerns exist that large GRVs increase aspiration and pneumonia risk.
• Literature suggests GRV monitoring is an unreliable indicator of aspiration risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the necessity of routine GRV monitoring in an adult Sub Acute Unit.
• To determine if GRV checks are essential for assessing aspiration risk in patients receiving enteral nutrition.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective chart review of 15 adult patients.
• Analysis of over 10,000 gastric residual volume measurements.
• Study focused on patients receiving G-tube enteral feedings as primary nutrition over one year.

Main Results:

• No instances of aspiration or pneumonia were recorded in the reviewed patient data.
• The study found no adverse events linked to the absence of GRV monitoring.

Conclusions:

• Routine GRV checks can be eliminated without negative patient outcomes.
• Discontinuing GRV monitoring significantly reduces nursing workload, saving over 3 hours per patient weekly.
• This change in policy improves nursing efficiency and resource allocation.