Abstract
The simple suspension method has now gained much popularity. Saiseikai Matsuyama Hospital introduced this method in August 2005. Five years after its introduction, we aimed to investigate its application and user opinion of the method by carrying out a questionnaire-based survey. The questionnaires were distributed among 114 ward nurses, responses were collected, and data were collated. We obtained 57 valid and justified responses (overall response rate, 50%). On the basis of the collected responses, it was found that 47.4% of the ward nurses had experienced feeding tube obstruction. We therefore analyzed the data of the questionnaire-based survey focusing on factors related to tube obstruction. Data analyses were performed by applying a decision tree algorithm, which is used as a data mining technique.
Analyses revealed the possibility that the feeding tube obstruction in the simple suspension method was caused by the use of drugs that could not be suspended in hot water. In addition, another contributory factor that was proposed was adherence of the suspension to fingers or other part of the hand during administration.
