Knowledge of nursing professionals on the evaluation of residual gastric volume

Abstract

Objective: To describe the knowledge of nursing professionals about the evaluation of residual gastric volume. Methods: Descriptive research with a quantitative-qualitative cross-sectional approach performed through questionnaire application to 60 nursing professionals involved in direct patient care in diet therapy. The data were collected in April 2015. Results: 69.2% of nurses and 72.3% of nursing technicians considered to have little knowledge about residual gastric volume. The main difficulty found by the nursing team to verify the residual volume was the work overload, followed by lack of orientation or training. Final considerations: The professionals demonstrate knowledge of the importance of the verification of the residual gastric volume, but the practice of the procedure in the assistance to the patients in the use of diet therapy is made difficult by the little existing information about the parameters.