The Buddy Feeding Tube

UPDATE - January 4, 2012

I want to thank all the donors that have contributed to this project. As of today we have had 15 donors contribute to this project including 4 donors that contributed offline. The project total reflects those offline donations as well. We are about 2/3rds of the way to our goal. We have extended the project an additional 3 months, until March 31, 2012.

We are making exciting progress on demonstrating feasibility of Katie's concept and anticipate proof of concept to be completed by the end of May 2012.

Thank you all again. God Bless,

Brad Slaker, CEO of DesignWise Medical

The Buddy: Light the Way to Safer Feeding Tube Care

The Buddy has been developed by a Pediatric Intensive Care nurse Katie who can no longer say “it has never happened to me.” Eighteen years ago while working the night shift Katie was ordered to place a small bore feeding tube in a ventilated sedated 2 year old. She placed the tube using the air insufflation method, confirmed placement and intiated the tube feedings, with in 10 minutes the ventilator was alarming and oxygen saturations were falling. The pit in her stomach still remains… the feeding tube was placed in the respiratory system and her patient had Pediasure in her lungs. Fast forward 12 years and now nurse Katie is a cancer patient needing a nasal gastric tube. The same inaccurate air insufflation method was used to place her tube. She vowed to create a clinical solution to this clinical problem once her treatment was complete.

Medical research statistics state that on average feedings tubes are improperly placed or move out of place 40% of the time and up to 56% in the neonatal population.

Temporary gastric tubes are an area of medicine not considered glamorous or exciting but no less vital for the maintanence of human life on a day to day basis. In 2005, the UK National Patient Safety Agency (NPAS) is aware of 11 deaths and one case of serious harm due to misplaced nasogastric feeding tubes over a two-year period and state, “Staff should be informed that none of the existing methods for testing the position of nasogastric feeding tubes are totally reliable.” The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority in 2006 after review of medical literature and reported incidents suggests, “Implementation of any newer, promising placement verification method if studies confirm efficacy” as proposed strategy for minimizing the risk of feeding tubes.

“No sure non-radiographic method exits to confirm a feeding tubes location in the body” so “this problem will require focused attention and development of specific protocols, possibly using new technologies.” We Can Do Better…