GASTRIC-PICU
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A randomised controlled trial of no routine gastric residual monitoring to guide enteral feeding in paediatric intensive care units.
IRAS ID
322370
Contact name
Lyvonne Tume
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN79668198
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 10 months, 28 days
Research summary
Nurses looking after children on intensive care units in the UK aspirate (suck out with a syringe) whatever feed is in the stomach before they decide to give a feed or not. The idea is to check that the stomach is not too full of milk/feed, to prevent the child vomiting, or breathing milk into the lungs. However, there is no evidence to base this practice on. In some countries this practice is rarely done and although recommendation in adult and preterm babies suggests stopping this practice, no large studies have been done to examine this in children. Frequently measuring the stomach contents can lead to the unnecessary stopping of the child’s feeds. This reduces the number of calories they receive. We know that on average, children in intensive care already receive less than half of the calories they require. Not having enough calories may adversely affect the length of time children require breathing support for and delay wound healing. Therefore, this practice may be unnecessary and possibly harmful. We want to find out if this common nursing practice, that of measuring the child’s stomach contents frequently, compared to not doing this, impacts on the length of time the child spends on a ventilator and their calorie intake.
To do this we will undertake a randomised controlled trial where children admitted to intensive care will be allocated by chance (randomised) to either have ‘standard care’ which is having their stomach aspirated frequently or not having their stomach aspirated to guide feeding. We will then look at the amount of time the child spends on a ventilator, the child’s calorie intake, and other important outcomes (including the risk of breathing milk into the lungs, and (in babies) the likelihood of picking up a severe bowel infection).
REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0284
Date of REC Opinion
10 May 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion