Author(s)

Mengqi Duan^1*, Xiangwei Chen^2#*, Xiuqun Qin^1*, Qiuju Liang¹, Wanqiu Dong¹, Yang Zhang¹, Jinxiang Lin²

¹Department of Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
²Department of Medical Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

Nasogastric tube is widely used in intensive care units. The complications of misplacement are rare but very dangerous for critically ill patients. Accurate localization of the position of the tip of nasogastric tube can effectively decrease complications and ensure the safety of critically ill patients. There are various methods that can be used to verify the location of the nasogastric tube such as radiography, PH measurement, electromagnetic navigator and ultrasound. However, there is a lack of general consensus regarding a standard method. In this review, we found that the accuracy of nasogastric tube placement can be greatly improved by visual technology such as X-ray, sonography and electromagnetic navigator. However, visual technology has not been widely used to locate the tip of nasogastric tube in critically ill patients. Best practice guidelines based on the available knowledge and evidence of current methods are necessary to increase the accuracy placement of nasogastric tube. It is envisioned that development of visual technologies will determine a new standard of care for verification of placement of nasogastric tube.

Critically Ill, Nasogastric Tube, Placement, Visualization

Duan, M. , Chen, X. , Qin, X. , Liang, Q. , Dong, W. , Zhang, Y. and Lin, J. (2020) A Review of Location Methods of Nasogastric Tube in Critically Ill Patients. Open Journal of Nursing, 10, 943-951. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2020.1010065.