ENFit Q & A: When will ENFit Syringes be Available?
This question comes from a mother who uses tube feeding supplies:
“I have three young daughters with G-tubes. I do 18 tube feeds per day. Plus, I administer meds thru the med ports of the extension sets over a hundred times per day. For many months, I have been forced to use the new ENFit extension sets with the old style syringes.
I have been having to use the adaptors on the end of the extension sets. They are horrible: (1) they make the end of the extension set so heavy that it pulls thru the medical tape and pulls on the g-tube, hurting my kids’ stomas, (2) the adaptors are clunky and big, preventing my kids from lying down on their backs, (3) every time I detach/re-attach the adaptors, it puts air into the line, causing my kids to get hiccups.
How can I get the new ENFit syringes in 5mL, 10mL and 20mL sizes so that all my kids’ enteral supplies will be compatible with each other, without using adaptors?”
ENFit® Syringes Answer:
Good news! ENFit®syringes are available from some manufacturers in 60mL, 5mL, 10mL, 20mL and 35mL. It has recently been a challenge for medical supply companies to get a hold of the smaller size ENFit® syringes. In many cases, manufacturers have restricted their supply of these items to hospitals only, due to a shortage in production, probably caused by one of the largest syringe manufacturers pulling out of the market last year.
To further confuse things, only a handful of hospitals across the country have converted to ENFit® enteral devices and are ordering ENFit® supplies at discharge. Home medical supply companies generally provide what the hospital orders when a patient goes home. Until medical facilities across the nation convert to ENFit®, hospitals and supply companies may need to carry both old style and ENFit® products at the same time to accommodate any type of patient that comes their way.
Here are a few things you could do:
- Contact your home medical supply company to see which ENFit® products they have available.
- Request some ENFit® syringes from your child’s hospital.
- Request legacy (old style) extension sets until your home medical supply company has ENFit® syringes available.
ENFit® Syringe Syringe Instructions for Use:
- If your feeding tube port is not ENFit, attach the white transitional stepped connector to the tip of the syringe with a gentle twisting motion and insert the syringe into the port as usual, keeping the white transitional stepped connector attached.
- If your feeding tube port has an ENFit connector, attach the syringe to your feeding tube port with a gentle twisting motion. You do not need the white transitional stepped connector.
More articles on ENFit®:
For more information on ENFit® Connectors:
You may receive notification about ENFit connectors from your enteral supply company.
Have questions about ENFit®? Email Shield HealthCare’s Corporate Registered Dietitian at rd@shieldhealthcare.com
ENFit® is a federally registered trademark of GEDSA.
Used with permission.
