Objective: Gastrostomy tube management can be a challenge for clinicians. Many WOC nurses find themselves taking lead role in caring for patients with complications related to gastrostomies. A WOC nurse in the pediatric population may spend 40-70% of his/her time in direct care of such complications. Staff nurses often feel unskilled in managing gastrostomy-related complications. In order to improve staff confidence and competency in gastrostomy management, a CBT was developed to augment education for nurses in the facility. This interactive module was designed to focus on basic gastrostomy site care as well as identification and management of complications (stomal and peri-stomal). Utilization of the CBT along with the ongoing instructor led sessions and skills competencies will help the staff nurses feel better equipped to troubleshoot common gastrostomy complications. The benefits of CBT enhanced training are: 1) The patient and family care may be delivered accurately and expeditiously by the staff nurse; and 2) The WOC nurse experiences a decrease in gastrostomy-related calls that allows more time for direct patient care, project development and other organizational directives.

Outcomes: (The CBT is scheduled for launch in late November/early December.) WOC consults are tracked daily by the WOC staff and categorized by patient location, reason for consult, service delivered and time unit per visit and supply procurement. The WOC nurse is able to recognize and correct supply deficiencies and/or overages quickly in order to avoid misuse of supplies. It is expected that the volume of gastrostomy-related calls will decrease as utilization of the CBT increases.