Speech language pathologists' criteria for use of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tubes versus nasogastric tubes

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are responsible for the management of persons with dysphagia. Progress has been made in the decision making regarding the determination of a patient's appropriate nutritional status (oral, PO versus non-oral, NPO). However, there is little research documenting the criteria for determining whether a patient should be on a nasogastric (N-G) tube or gastrostomy (G) tube. Speech-language pathologists from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association's (ASHA) Special Interest Division 13: Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders were asked to complete a survey regarding their experience, caseload, and decision making for patients on N-G and G tubes. The results found that there is high agreement in rating the importance of several factors including estimated duration of NPO and severity of dysphagia. The data demonstrates the need for a standard of practice as well as a more defined scope of practice in the area of non-oral feeding in order to guide speech-language pathologists' decision making.