Solid oral medications' suitability for use in enteral feeding tubes

There is a lack of specific data about the efficacy and safety of medications administered via feeding tubes, although there is a general awareness that not all drug formulations are suitable.

To overview the current situation with solid medications administered through feeding tubes in the Tartu University Hospital intensive care units. To evaluate the availability of information on the suitability of drug formulations for administration via feeding tubes.

This was a descriptive retrospective document analysis study.

During visits to the intensive care units, medication data for current patients were collected from paper medical charts and nurses. In addition, package information leaflets, summaries of product characteristics, and two practical handbooks were used for evaluating the medicines' suitability for administration via feeding tubes. A request for information was also sent to manufacturers or marketing authorization holders.

In 3 months, data were collected from 113 intensive care patients' medical charts. A total of 306 medication administrations via feeding tubes were documented and analysed, 67% of which were solid oral dosage forms. Exactly 91.2% of these were conventional tablets. After the analysis of information availability, 88% of the medications were classified as suitable for administration via feeding tubes, but only 48% had the manufacturer-provided information.

This study showed that the information about the suitability of formulations administration through a feeding tube is not readily available for almost half of the medications. The manufacturers seem to have the relevant information, but it is not always added to their medications' official information, putting these patients at higher risk for errors.

This study shows that if there is no clear statement about administration through feeding tubes on official manufacturers' information, this should be sought directly from manufacturers or marketing authorization holders, and the data could be incorporated into local guidelines.