Star Home Nursing’s Health Care Team handles patients of all ages with medical conditions, diseases, disorders which require the use of feeding tubes. Tubes are used as nutritional support for patients who would otherwise be unable to attain proper nutrition by mouth. Some people use tubes as assistance while also taking food by mouth, others are fed solely by their tubes.

There are many different options for feeding through a tube. A patient can be bolus fed, which is where a designated amount of formula or blenderized food is pushed through a syringe a few times a day, or a patient can be on continuous feeds where they must be hooked up to a small pump which regulated formula into their body consistently.

Bolus feeds are normally associated with patients who use tubes on a more intermittent basis than their sole nutrient factor, and whose bodies can tolerate larger volumes of fluid at one time. Many people with feeding tubes are sustained by doctor prescribed formula. This formula contains all the proper nutrients a person would receive from eating orally. Continuous feeds are normally associated with patients who have trouble absorbing nutrients, and who are unable to tolerate large volumes of formula at a time. Continuous can mean: 24/7 feeding, only at night feeding, or feeding for a certain amount of hours during the day. The feeding preference, rate of feeding and time frame are determined by a doctor or dietician depending on the patient’s caloric needs.

Eating is a basic and essential function to human life. Living without something that is within ones nature takes a heavy toll on the individual. We understand that our patients and their families do not take the decision to place a feeding tube lightly. Normally before tube placement, the patient had experienced excessive weight loss, showed loss of vital nutrition in blood tests, and a severe decrease in life quality.

Star Home Nurses help their patients understand the benefits and importance of the feeding tube in order to thrive and maintain an adequate nutritional status.