Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding: clinical knowledge and skills for learning disability nurses.

people with learning disabilities may require percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube feeding to maintain their nutritional status when they have a congenital deformity or severe infection that makes eating and drinking difficult. In addition, people with learning disabilities may have severe dysphagia or medical or surgical conditions throughout their life that make it difficult for them to eat and drink and put them at risk of aspiration and choking. To manage this increasingly common clinical situation learning disability nurses must have the knowledge and skills required to manage patients with a PEG tube safely and effectively.