RIG / PEG Feeding, Tube Care and Management

RIG / PEG Feeding, Tube Care and Management

Develop the knowledge and practical skills to support safe feeding, maintain tube care and recognise complications early.

This face-to-face course combines structured teaching, realistic scenarios and supervised practice using adult gastrostomy training equipment.

PEG means percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; RIG means radiologically inserted gastrostomy. Both provide access to the stomach for enteral nutrition, fluids and appropriate medicines.

Course Aim

To prepare learners to support safe, person-centred gastrostomy feeding and routine tube care within their role, follow prescribed care plans and escalate concerns promptly.

Who Is This Course For?

Registered nurses, nursing associates, senior care workers and other health and social care staff whose duties include gastrostomy feeding or tube care.

Suitable for initial learning and refresher training across adult care homes, hospitals, community and domiciliary care services. Practical participation must reflect the learner’s responsibilities and employer authorisation.

Course Scope

The course covers adult PEG and RIG feeding, routine stoma care, equipment preparation, prescribed nutrition and hydration, medication-administration principles, monitoring and documentation.

Learners explore device-specific care requirements and follow individual care plans, manufacturer instructions and local policies. Tube insertion, replacement and independent changes to prescribed feeding or medication regimens are outside the course’s scope.

What This Course Covers

1. Gastrostomy foundations: relevant anatomy, indications, tube types and differences between feeding routes.
2. Daily tube and stoma care: routine observations, hygiene, tube condition and infection prevention.
3. Feeding and hydration: equipment preparation, prescribed feeds, pump awareness and water flushes.
4. Medication safety: suitable formulations, administration principles and when pharmacist advice is required.
5. Person-centred care: consent, dignity, positioning, comfort and aspiration-risk reduction.
6. Complications: blockage, leakage, displacement, infection, feeding intolerance and urgent warning signs.
7. Professional practice: documentation, communication, escalation and individual responsibilities.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, learners should be able to:

1. Explain the purpose of PEG and RIG feeding and identify relevant equipment.
2. Describe routine tube and stoma checks appropriate to the device and care plan.
3. Demonstrate infection-prevention measures during simulated care.
4. Demonstrate prescribed feeding and flushing procedures using training equipment.
5. Explain medication-administration precautions and when specialist advice is needed.
6. Recognise complications, identify when tube use must stop and describe appropriate escalation.
7. Record care accurately and identify the limits of their competence.

Learning and Assessment

Learning includes tutor-led discussion, clinical scenarios, demonstrations and supervised simulated practice. Learners complete knowledge and practical assessments and receive feedback against the course’s learning outcomes.

Certification and Continuing Professional Development

Successful learners receive a Clarivive MedInsight Ltd certificate recording completion of the course and its required assessments.

The course supports CPD through knowledge development, practical learning and reflection. Course assessment does not replace employer-specific competency assessment, device-specific training or workplace authorisation.

Recommended Refresher

Clarivive MedInsight recommends refresher training every 12 months, or sooner where local policy, changes in practice, identified learning needs or a period of non-practice require it.

Key Guidance and Further Reading

1. NICE CG32 — Nutrition support for adults: national guidance covering oral, enteral and parenteral nutrition support.
2. NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service — Administering a medicine through an enteral feeding tube: practical medicines guidance.
3. Relevant organisational policies, individual feeding plans and device manufacturer instructions.