Aim: The primary aim of the study was to investigate the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux in patients receiving percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) and to select the appropriate access site for enteral nutrition based on contrast examination by gastrostomy.

Subjects and Methods: The subjects were 158 patients who underwent PEG at our hospital between May 2016 and July 2021. X-ray studies were performed after injection of 250 mL of contrast medium by gastrostomy on day 1 of PEG. Gastrostomy was switched to PEG-J in patients with gastroesophageal reflux to the upper and middle thoracic esophagus.

Result: Gastroesophageal reflux to the upper and middle thoracic esophagus was observed in 37 cases (23.4%) and to the lower thoracic esophagus in 5 cases (3.2%). Reconstruction by PEG-J was performed in 33 cases. Vomiting occurred after PEG in 4 cases in the gastrostomy group and none in the PEG-J group. Pneumonia occurred within 3 months after PEG in 31 cases (24.8%) in the gastrostomy group and 9 (27.3%) in the PEG-J group. There were no differences in early mortality and long-term survival between gastrostomy and PEG-J cases.

Conclusion: The incidence of pneumonia after PEG was not increased by performing PEG-J reconstruction, even in patients with probable gastroesophageal reflux. This suggests that it is important to perform examinations such as gastrography to select appropriate enteral nutrition access in patients undergoing PEG.

Multivariate analysis was conducted in team members of cross-disciplinary nutrition support teams (NSTs) to evaluate subjective responses on team status and awareness and behaviors that cause members to feel fulfilled by team activities. A questionnaire was mailed to 1,667 hospitals nationwide, and all NST constituent positions were asked to respond. Multiple regression analysis was performed on 16 questions extracted by factor analysis and the maximum likelihood method for 1,047 responses from 18 occupations in 218 hospitals, with the composite objective variables: “Your team’s activities have increased the level of care at the hospital” and “Patient and family satisfaction has increased due to your team’s activities”. The following four characteristics were found: (1) The team communicates its activities to the hospital and receives recognition from the hospital and wards; (2) The team is flexible in revising its policies and ideas; (3) The team members feel that the team is doing well; and (4) The team members feel that the hospital staff has a high level of satisfaction. In addition, respondents tended to feel that the team did not perform well if there were large differences in motivation among team members or if the team was dependent on a particular person.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of nutritional management and consultation behavior of nurses on interprofessional work competency (IPWC) in a gastroenterological ward.

Methods: The subjects were 517 nurses with more than 3 years of experience in a gastroenterology unit at 53 hospitals with nutritional support teams (NSTs) and more than 500 beds. Information on characteristics, background, nutritional management practice, consultation behavior, and IPWC were obtained using an anonymous self-completed survey.

Results: Nutritional management competency was positively correlated with years of experience, and showed a weak positive correlation with the number of nutritional study sessions in which nurses had participated. Consultation behavior was positively correlated with the number of interprofessional study sessions attended and weakly positively correlated with the number of nutritional sessions. IPWC was positively correlated with the number of interprofessional sessions attended and weakly correlated with the number of nutritional sessions. Moderate positive correlations were found among consultation behavior, nutritional management competency, and IPWC. Multiple regression analysis showed that IPWC was influenced by nutritional management competency and consultation behavior.

Conclusions: The number of nutritional study sessions attended by nurses was associated with nutritional management competency, consultation behavior and IPWC. These results show that improved nutritional management and consultation behavior can improve IPWC of nurses.