ENFit Transition for Enteral Management in an Acute Care Setting

ENFit Transition for Enteral Management in an Acute Care Setting

Blog Article

# Background Medication errors, particularly those involving enteral devices, have been a persistent challenge in healthcare settings.The introduction of the ENFit system aimed to mitigate these errors 9002nc by standardizing enteral device connectors, thus reducing the risk of misconnections and enhancing patient safety.This paper describes a quality improvement project that sought to transition from legacy enteral devices to ENFit-compatible devices within a Level I trauma facility in south-central Pennsylvania.The study was conducted in a 525-bed facility serving various inpatient and outpatient services.

The project was initiated in March 2022, with a focus on areas where patients required enteral devices, including ambulatory sites.# Methods The project utilized the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) model to guide the transition to ENFit enteral devices.Various interventions were employed, including conducting audits, assessing product inventory, updating surgeon preference cards, and educating staff and patients.Compliance with the ENFit transition was assessed through audits, with a focus on visualizing and managing enteral devices as ENFit.

The project resulted in a progressive increase in compliance, ultimately achieving 100% ENFit management, with no reported misconnection safety events.# Results and Conclusion The project had a positive impact on patients, staff, and the organization by enhancing patient safety and reducing costs.Effective communication and a positive approach were critical to the success of this transition.The results suggest that with a concerted effort and a focus on standardization, the transition to ENFit-compatible enteral devices can improve patient safety and overall healthcare quality.

# Plain Language Summary Change is hard, but it can be even more challenging for a large hospital or healthcare system to switch from a traditional and familiar medical device to a new one, throughout the entire organization.A 525-bed Level I trauma facility in south-central Pennsylvania recently took on the major task of updating their stock of feeding tube connectors to the ENFit system, the current industry standard for enteral devices.Continuing to use old "legacy" feeding tubes with adaptors to connect with the new system raised the risk of errors in which medication can be delivered to patients through the wrong route---for example, giving oral medications in a syringe meant for an enteral tube and subsequently given through an intravenous port.To prevent enteral device--related patient safety events, this facility committed to transitioning to using only ENFit tubes for feeding or medication.

So how did they do it? A multidisciplinary team used the Plan, Do, Check, Act model to observe how enteral devices were being used, develop and implement changes, review outcomes, and iterate on the process to make improvements.Keys to their success included working closely with vendors and Material Management, educating clinical staff on the importance of preventing misconnections with other bodily system devices whelen arges spotlight and familiarizing them with the new products, updating policies and guides, maintaining clear communication about what was changing and when, and emphasizing the reporting of safety events.This collaborative approach resulted in 100% compliance with ENFit enteral device management, compared to 40% ENFit compatibility before the quality improvement initiative.