Reducing the Unintended Dislodgement of Gastrostomy Tubes in a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital: A QA/QI Pilot Study.

Background: Since their introduction in 1980, gastrostomy tubes have become effective means of providing both short-term and long-term enteral access and nutritional support. These feeding tubes are ubiquitous in many health care facilities that care for the elderly, but carry high rates of unintended dislodgement - a complication that, if not detected promptly, is associated with substantial morbidity and health care costs. This study determined the dislodgment rate of gastrostomy tubes at 90 days in a cohort of 221 patients and tested the hypothesis that the implementation of a concise protocol to care for patients' gastrostomy tubes would reduce these unintended dislodgements.