Crushing capsules with pelletized granules

Capsules that contain granulated medication can be crushed in Rx Crush Pill Pouches with some additional technique.

After putting a capsule in the Rx Crush Pill Pouch with a syringe attached with liquid in the syringe, use the crush plate of the Rx Crush Pill Crusher to crack open the capsule. Press the crusher only once to crack the capsule to minimize the number of fragments of the capsule in the pouch. Shake the pill pouch to empty granules from the capsule. Use fingers to manipulate the capsule to remove granules.

Inject liquid in the syringe to transfer the granulated medication into an enteral feeding tube. Shake the pill pouch with the liquid to concentrate granules at the bottom of the pill pouch. Its helpful to trap the capsule with fingers to keep the capsule material in the upper part of the pill pouch. Capsule material will clog the opening of the Rx Crush Pill Pouch so isolate the capsule by holding it in another part of the pouch.

The granulated medication will easily be sucked into the syringe so it can then be injected into an enteral feeding tube.

There needs to be more than one irrigation process to clear all the granules from the Rx Crush Pill Pouch to the syringe and into enteral feeding gear.

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1 comment

Best practices to date: Cut the top off a capsule and pour the granules or pelletized meds into the pouch. Seal the pouch and attach a syringe with liquid. Crush the pellets in the pouch, then inject water to dissolve the meds. The solution can be extracted from the pouch with the attached syringe and then injected into feeding tubes or into food.

Capsules with pelletized medication are made to deliver medication into the metabolism on time-release. Be aware of the characteristics of the capsulized medication before crushing.

Bruce Collett

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