Administering medications through the NG tube is discussed in Chapter 6;
the drug must be in liquid form or dissolved into a liquid and must be properly
diluted—it is usually given as a bolus and followed by water—liquid medications
should be diluted with water to reduce the osmolality to 500 mOsm/kg H 2 O
(mildly hypertonic) to decrease GI intoleranceCalculation for dilution of enteral medications:- Calculate the drug order to determine the volume of the drug:
D×V or H:V::D:x
H
D: Desired dose: dose ordered
H: Have (on-hand dose; dose on label of container
[bottle, vial or ampule])
V: Vehicle: form and amount in which the drug is available
(tablet, capsule, liquid)- Determine the osmolality of the drug (drug literature or pharmacist) and
liquid dilution. Use 500 mOsm as a constant for the desired osmolality:
known mOsm ×volume of drug =total volume of liquid
desired mOsm
(^188) CHAPTER 11 Nutritional Support Therapies
Category Supplement Comment
Lactose-free Ensure, Jevity, Osmolite (Ross)
Sustacal Liquid, Isocal, Ultracal
(Mead Johnson)
Fibersource, Resource (Sandox)
Entrition, Nutren (Clintec)
Attain, Comply (Sherwood)
Elemental (monomeric) Vital HN (Ross)
formulas Vivonex T.E.N. (Sandox)
Criticare HN (Mead Johnson)
Trayasorb (Clintec)
Peptamen (Clintec)
Reabilan (O’Brian)
Table 11-1. (continued)
Used as oral supplement, tube
feeding, or meal replacement
Ready to use
Meets daily intake of vitamins
and minerals.
Partially digested nutrients for
feeding tube
Required reconstitution
except for Peptamen, Reabilan,
and Criticare.