Skill Checklists for Taylor's Clinical Nursing Skills: A Nursing Process Approach

241

Skill Checklists for Taylor's Clinical Nursing Skills:

A Nursing Process Approach, 3rd edition

Name Date

Unit Position

Instructor/Evaluator: Position

SKILL 11-5

Caring for a Gastrostomy Tube

Goal:The patient ingests an adequate diet and exhibits no

signs and symptoms of irritation, excoriation, or infection at

the tube insertion site. Comments

1. Assemble equipment. Verify the medical order or facility
   policy and procedure regarding site care.


2. Perform hand hygiene and put on PPE, if indicated.


3. Identify the patient.


4. Explain the procedure to the patient and why this interven-
   tion is needed. Answer any questions as needed.


5. Assess patient for presence of pain at the tube insertion site.
   If pain is present, offer patient analgesic medication per
   physician’s order and wait for medication absorption before
   beginning insertion site care.


6. Pull the patient’s bedside curtain. Raise bed to a comfortable
   working position, usually elbow height of the caregiver
   (VISN 8, 2009).


7. Put on gloves. If gastrostomy tube is new and still has
   sutures holding it in place, dip cotton-tipped applicator
   into sterile saline solution and gently clean around the
   insertion site, removing any crust or drainage. Avoid
   adjusting or lifting the external disk for the first few days
   after placement except to clean the area. If the gastric tube
   insertion site has healed and the sutures are removed, wet
   a washcloth and apply a small amount of soap onto wash-
   cloth. Gently cleanse around the insertion, removing any
   crust or drainage. Rinse site, removing all soap.


8. Pat skin around insertion site dry.


9. If the sutures have been removed, gently rotate the guard
   or external bumper 90 degrees at least once a day. Assess
   that the guard or external bumper is not digging into the
   surrounding skin. Avoid placing any tension on the feed-
   ing tube.

Copyright © 2011 by Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Skill Checklists for Taylor's Clinical Nursing Skills:

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