Tube Feeding

Is this course suitable for you or your organisation?

This course is available:

for Cerebral Palsy Alliance employees: see the scheduled dates below.
for public participants or organisations: please enquire below about course dates or group bookings at your venue or ours.

Why choose this course?

This course is recommended for disability support practitioners, allied health professionals, nurses and others who assist clients with the delivery of nutrition and /or medication via a gastrostomy or jejunostomy tube.

For Cerebral Palsy Alliance Employees

At Cerebral Palsy Alliance this is a compulsory activity for all employees who assist clients with the delivery of nutrition and /or medication via a gastrostomy and/or jejunostomy.
Prerequisites - Cerebral Palsy Alliance employees must have completed the online modules for Assist with medication and Infection prevention and control, read the Medication policy (NS6-5-4) and infection control policy (NS6-5-2) as well as the enteral nutrition information in the Client health support procedure (NS6-5-1-Pr1). You must also have attended the Practical skills workshop for disability support practitioners and managers.
In addition to this course and practical simulated workplace scenario, employees are also required to be assessed in the workplace within one month of this course, by a CPA clinical nurse specialist.
Cerebral Palsy Alliance employees are exempt from the course fee.

What content does the course cover?

This course provides learners with the essential knowledge, skills and practical training required to safely and effectively assist clients with prescribed nutrition and medications delivered via a gastrostomy and/or jejunostomy. This course includes the following topics:

Basic anatomy and physiology of the digestive system.
Reasons a person may require medications and food to be delivered via a tube.
How to recognise different types of ostomies and their associated feeding tubes and equipment.
Safe work practices to prevent and control infection including how to safely maintain tube feeding equipment.
Demonstration and practice in a simulated environment with administering medications and nutrition via a tube.
How to trouble shoot common contingencies.
Documentation.

Does the program have any prerequisites?

It is important that participants have current Medication training prior to attending the course. If participants have not had prior Medication training, their Certificate of Attendance will make clear that they are not endorsed to administer medication via the tube. It is our strong recommendation that staff providing tube feeding should have medication training and first aid training that is refreshed annually.

Course completion requires:

Participants to actively engage in class discussion and a simulated practical experience. Participants’ knowledge and practical skills in administering medications and feeds via a gastrostomy and/or jejunostomy tube are concept assessed during the simulated workplace scenario component of the course.