Nasogastric tubes (NGTs) are commonly used in the clinic for feeding, aspiration and administration of drugs and other oral agents. It is therefore imperative that NGTs are correctly placed in the stomach. Carbon dioxide detectors could be beneficial to use in conjunction with traditionally standard bedside verification techniques such as pH testing, direct visualization of gastric contents on aspiration, and air insufflations with auscultation. In this article, Shelley Miller comparatively analyses the current research related to the accuracy of verifying NGT placement with carbon dioxide detectors and pH testing. She concludes that carbon dioxide detectors are no more accurate than pH testing in confirming correct NGT placement.