Satisfaction of nurses and packing personnel with feeding bag compared to normal saline bottle among enteral feeding patients.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To assess the satisfaction of nurses and packing personnel with the use of a feeding bag compared to a normal saline bottle for patients needing enteral feeding. Methods: Ninety-three nurses in eleven wards who had been using both feeding bags and normal saline bottles and eight packing personnel who had been preparing food in these two containers were recruited. They were asked to give a satisfaction score (0-100) for both the feeding bag and the normal saline bottle. Results: Nurses were happier with the use of feeding bags than with normal saline bottles in 10 out of 11 aspects (p-value < 0.001) type of container, appropriateness of the container, preparation steps, duration of preparation, correct amount of food, convenience in feeding, flow of food, duration of feeding, food storage and patient’s complications. The only unsatisfactory aspect was reheating due to the loss of the patient’s name tag after soaking the feeding bag in warm water. Conversely, the packing personnel were more satisfied with the use of the traditional normal saline bottle in most aspects, except for the correct amount of food and food transportation. In terms of cost for each patient per day, using the normal saline bottle was a little more expensive than using the feeding bag (44.33 vs. 41.67 baht). Conclusion: For patients needing enteral feeding, the feeding bag should be considered for use, instead of the conventional normal saline bottle. However, more preparation skills and space are needed.