Understanding and Using ENFit Syringe Adapters in Medication Training

This article explains the importance of ENFit syringe adapters in medical training and how they improve patient safety by preventing misconnections with non-enteral devices. It covers their role in compliance with ISO standards, their twist-and-lock mechanism, and step-by-step usage in medication administration. Students and professionals will learn best practices for preparation, medication delivery, flushing, and documentation.

What you’ll learn:

• Why ENFit syringe adapters are essential for patient safety
• The ISO 80369-3:2016 standard and its importance in clinical practice
• How the twist-and-lock system prevents misconnections with IV or respiratory lines
• The role of ENFit adapters in facilities using both new and legacy enteral systems
• Step-by-step process: preparation, extraction, connection, administration, and flushing
• Safe disposal vs. cleaning of reusable ENFit adapters
• How to properly document medication delivery in training and real settings

Medical and nursing students must become familiar with ENFit syringe adapters in medication training programs for the sake of their patients. They are designed to reduce the risk to a patient’s health by avoiding misconnections between their enteral feeding tubes and other non-enteral medical devices, such as catheters, IV lines, and respiratory tubes.

An enteral feeding tube delivers fluids and nutrients directly to the patient’s gastrointestinal tract when they are unable to eat food normally. Patients suffering unconsciousness, difficulty swallowing, or other debilitating medical conditions may require enteral feeding to sustain their nutrition. The most common places where you will see enteral feeding tubes used are nursing homes, hospitals, and home care settings.

Why Are ENFit Syringe Adapters Important?

Because they comply with ISO standards and prevent dangerous misconnections between feeding tubes and non-enteral devices like IV or respiratory lines.

ENFit syringe adapters comply with the international safety standard, ISO 80369-3:2016 of the International Organization for Standardization. This standard requires enteral feeding tubes to have secure connections with medication syringes, while avoiding accidental misconnections to non-enteral devices. That way, there is a much lower chance of accidentally administering the wrong fluids and medications through an IV line into a patient’s vein or through a respiratory tube into a patient’s lungs.

For instance, the medications and fluids formulated to feed the gastrointestinal tract are different than those used to deliver nutrients to a patient’s bloodstream through an IV line. So, if gastrointestinal medications were accidentally delivered to a patient’s bloodstream, it could cause them severe health conditions and complications. By using the ENFit syringe adapter, there is no chance of making a mistake like this because it won’t allow the enteral feeding tube to connect to any non-enteral device.

How Does the ENFit System Work?

Unlike push connectors, ENFit uses a twist-and-lock design that only fits enteral devices, making it impossible to connect to IV or respiratory lines.

ENFit syringe adapters feature connectors with a twist-and-lock connection system, rather than a traditional push connection system. The traditional connectors of IV lines, respiratory tubes, and most other non-enteral devices rely on friction to secure the connectors, which are less safe and less reliable. For this reason, enteral devices are incompatible with non-enteral devices because they have different connector types. That is how they can avoid accidental misconnections.

Many healthcare facilities across North America continue to use outdated feeding tubes and legacy enteral feeding systems without ENFit connectors. Because of this, introducing ENFit syringe adapters to these facilities will allow the staff to continue using the older feeding systems while complying with the latest standard. Eventually, these healthcare facilities will introduce the newer feeding systems with ENFit compatibility included. Until then, they must rely on ENFit connectors.

Therefore, it is crucial to teach your students how to use ENFit connectors, as they may end up working in a facility that still uses outdated equipment.

How to Use ENFit Syringe Adapters?

Preparation, extracting medication, connecting the feeding tube, administering, flushing, safe disposal or cleaning, and documenting the delivery.

There are different types of ENFIT syringe adapters. Some ENFIT syringe adapters are bottle adapters with connectors. They are inserted into the medication bottles, allowing students or medical practitioners to draw medication from them using their syringes. Others are inserted directly into the feeding tube.

Below are the common steps involved in using ENfit syringe adapters to administer medication:

1) Preparation

Prepare for the session with the patient. Gather all the necessary tools and supplies for the medication dosing and flushing procedure. These supplies may include the following:

• ENFit syringe adapter

• Placebo prescription medication bottle or cup

• ENfit syringe

• Water flush

• Sterile gloves

• Enteral feeding tube

Students should also learn to verify each patient’s identity to confirm the required dosage and medication to administer to them.

2) Extract the Medication

Attach the ENFit syringe adapter to the medication bottle or feeding tube, depending on the type of adapter you have provided to your students. Ensure the adapter is firmly inserted to avoid any complications.

Stick the syringe needle into the adapter. Pull back on the plunger of the syringe to extract the prescribed dose of medication liquid for the patient. Avoid any air bubbles during the extraction to ensure a precise and accurate dosage.

3) Connect the Enteral Feeding Tube

The next step is to connect the enteral feeding tube. The ENFit syringe is made with a male connector, while the enteral feeding tube features a female ENFit connector. The male connector will fit perfectly with the female connector on the tube. Once the syringe is connected, twist it until it is securely locked in place. The locking mechanism stabilizes the connection, prevents leakage, and avoids accidental disconnections.

4) Administer the Medication

Now comes the step of administering the medication. Keep the patient in a comfortable position while administering the medicine slowly and carefully. In some cases, you may need to train your students to administer more than one medication in a subsequent order.

If that is the case, have the students flush the feeding tube with approximately 10 to 20 milliliters of water after administering each medication. A different ENFit syringe should be used for flushing. Never use the same syringe for both the medication and flushing because it could cause tube obstructions or adverse drug reactions.

5) Discard the Used ENFit Syringe Adapters

Once all medications have been administered and the tubes have been flushed, the next step is to discard the used ENFit syringe adapters into the designated medical waste containers. On the other hand, if your students are using reusable adapters rather than single-use adapters, they must be thoroughly washed, rinsed, and air dried before reuse.

6) Document the Medication

In a real-life clinical setting, the nurse or medical practitioner would record and document the recent medication delivery on the patient’s medication administration record. This record should include the medication name, flush volumes, dosage amounts, and any specific observations made during the entire process.

Conclusion

Do you need high-quality ENFit syringe adapters and other medical supplies for your school? Pristine Medical offers premium ENFit syringe adapters compatible with enteral syringes. Students can easily use them to learn how to secure their enteral syringes, preventing contamination and misconnection with non-enteral devices.