To evaluate the practice of obtaining and reporting chest radiographs to confirmnasogastric tube (NG) positioning at our local trust with regards to local and National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) guidelines. To identify strategies to improve efficiency of reporting chest radiographs for NG tube placement confirmation.

Nasogastric (NG) tubes are commonly used worldwide as a conduit to providenutrition, essential medications and therapeutic treatment to a wide variety of patient groups on medical and surgical wards. However, misplacement of tubes into the lung can be detrimental to patients due to increased risk of aspiration. In the UK, betweenSeptember 2005 and March 2010, in total there were 21 deaths and 79 cases of harm attributable to the incorrect placement of NG tubes. In 2009, feeding into the lung via a visibly misplaced NG...

First Cycle: In our first cycle, we retrospectively compiled data on chest x-rays performed to evaluate NG tube placement during a 4 month period, between 3rd June and 4th October 2018. Data on the total number of X-rays performed, X-ray study date, report date and studyassignment wascollected with the help of the PACS team. Exclusion criteria included all NG tube position confirmation X-rays performed in intensive care/high dependency unit. Results from firstcycle: 1. 147 X-rays performed over this 4 month period and 65/147 (44%) were...

Our quality improvement audit has demonstrated significant improvement in reporting times for X-rays performed to determine NG tube positioning following the introduction of a dedicated NG tube folder and education of the radiology department multi-disciplinary team. A majority of these X-rays are now being reported on the same day of image acquisition. A large volume of studies however are being performed out of hours. After evaluation of the clinical notes, discussion with ward teams and management, the reasons are likely to be related to: 1....

R. Khurram; London/UK - Author at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK S. Vessal; London/UK - Author at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK - Consultant at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK S. Shah; London/UK - Author at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK A. M. E. E.-S. Bosaily; London/UK - Author at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

The National Patient Safety Agency alert NPSA/2011/PSA002 ‘Reducing the harm caused by misplaced nasogastric feeding tubes in adults, children and infants’.http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/type/alerts/?entryid45=129640