Acute Caremiddle twist
A 68-year-old man on the stroke unit has a fine-bore nasogastric tube inserted for feeding after a large middle cerebral artery infarct. Insertion was straightforward, he did not cough at any point, and the tube sits at the length documented at insertion. He takes pantoprazole. Eight millilitres of aspirate is obtained easily and tested on graduated pH indicator paper; the pH is 6. Which one of the following should be done before the feed is started?