Enteral Feeding Connections

Now is a good time to decide which enteral feeding system is best for your NICU. Medela is proud to offer two excellent options, TwistLok® and ENFit®, and can help guide you through the decision of what is best for your NICU.

Did You Know?

  • International Organization of Standardizations (ISO-80369-3) and The Global Enteral Device Supplier Association (GEDSA) have developed a new enteral feeding connector called ENFit.

  • GEDSA has proposed a deadline of July 1, 2021 for the discontinuation of legacy (oral) feeding tubes and adaptors and continuing through January 1, 2022.

  • This GEDSA proposal is not a mandate, but provides a timeline in which hospitals should decide what connection option is best for their NICU.

  • These changes are designed to reduce errors and increase patient safety.

Your Options for Updating Enteral Feeding Connections

Hybrid Conversion

Provides unique flexibility to address specific NICU needs, with ENFit for your adult and pediatric enteral feeding systems and TwistLok for your NICU.

  • Resolves hub issues for feeding tubes.
  • Resolves most issues regarding delivery of oral medication.
  • No practice change necessary.

Not fully standardized.

Complete Hospital Conversion

Provides full standardization throughout your facility and can provide increased patient safety.

  • Must address cleaning of feeding tube hubs, particularly “moat” that gets dirty.
  • Must address delivery of oral medication, including determining need for oral adaptors paired with syringes and threads to most optimally feed smaller babies.
  • Must consider conversion and increased cost impact to your pharmacy.

Hybrid Conversion

Provides unique flexibility to address specific NICU needs, with ENFit for your adult and pediatric enteral feeding systems and TwistLok for your NICU.

  • Resolves hub issues for feeding tubes.
  • Resolves most issues regarding delivery of oral medication.
  • No practice change necessary.

Not fully standardized.

Complete Hospital Conversion

Provides full standardization throughout your facility and can provide increased patient safety.

  • Must address cleaning of feeding tube hubs, particularly “moat” that gets dirty.
  • Must address delivery of oral medication, including determining need for oral adaptors paired with syringes and threads to most optimally feed smaller babies.
  • Must consider conversion and increased cost impact to your pharmacy.

Breaking Down the Differences: TwistLok and ENFit

TwistLok


• Safe-engineered, incompatible with IV locking.
• Male tip syringe.
• Little to no practice change required.
• Easy to clean.
• Compatible with safety oral syringes.
• Does not match with ISO standard.

ENFit


• Safe-engineered, incompatible with IV locking.
• Female tip syringe.
• Requires practice change, with significant impact in Pharmacy.
• Requires cleaning and/or maintenance.
• Compatible with ENFit syringe and Low Dose Dual Cap.
• Matches with ISO standard.

TwistLok is a flexible alternative to ENFit in the neonatal feeding space, without compromising on safety or accuracy. In conjunction with Medela Low Dose Dual Cap it allows your facility to meet the many challenges with enteral feeding and oral medication delivery hospital wide.

The Choice is Yours

Medela is here to support your hospital’s transition and will continue to offer both systems to our customers, so you can choose the solution that fits your facility best. We will continue to share customer experiences and anecdotes, so all customers have a proactive understanding of impact.

Our team is ready to begin supporting your hospital’s enteral feeding changes today.

 

Get in touch with our team to ensure a timely transition.