Abstract
In Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has mandated hospitals and clinicians from December 2019 to November 2021 to make the transition from the existing connectors (legacy feeding devices) to new connectors (International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 80369-3 compliant connectors), which reduce the risk linked to misconnections between medical devices for different medical applications in order to prevent medical mistakes and ensure a stable supply of products through international coordination. However, in the United States, the adoption of the international standard is less than 20 %, even though three years have passed since the start of their availability. Concerns about the international standard include infection potential from the narrow and deep moat area on the patient side of the new connector, its complexity of use with adapters, dosing inaccuracy and inadvertent gastrostomy tube removal as a result of tugging due to the positive-lock system, and thus there are worries these new connectors will not be able to meet the needs of the home enteral nutrition population. Caregivers are more likely to provide blenderized tube feeding, gravity or syringe feeding, or use the syringes for venting at home. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the performance of new connectors not only for use by healthcare workers, but also for use by caregivers outside the hospital. We therefore would like to propose that the expiration date of the existing connectors be extended until various concerns about the new connectors can be eliminated by thoroughly examining the current problems associated with their usage.
