Implementing a cue based feeding protocol and staff education program in the neonatal intensive care unit
Date
2019
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The overarching aim of this Education Leadership Portfolio (ELP) is to describe current best practices in premature infant feeding, construct a new protocol for cue based feeding for our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and devise an educational module for staff training, to improve the utilization of developmentally supportive feeding techniques and to standardize care. The end goal of this project was to ensure our staff were providing evidence-based interventions, in a consistent manner. ☐ A variety of strategies were used in carrying out this effort. I first reviewed research, completed a protocol comparison chart, and surveyed feeding procedures used in other NICUs. All of these helped me to understand the problem in general. To address the problem on our unit, I decided I needed to collect more information about the current feeding procedures used in our unit, as well as capture staff knowledge and attitudes about cue based feeding. To gather this information, I conducted focus groups, developed and asked staff to complete a knowledge-based survey, and
observed their feeding practices. Based on these, a formalized protocol and guidelines were developed along with an education module including development of staff resources to support the implementation of the protocol and guidelines, as well as to
support effective staff training. ☐ The protocol was then implemented for two months. After this implementation period, I assessed our progress by conducting a second round of focus groups, a post knowledge survey, feeding observations, feeding session audits, and a
poster, to convey results of the project to staff. Based on the results we were able to see a culture shift on our unit regarding feeding. Staff members were able to more consistently identify stress cues and appropriately respond to them, and were observed
to utilize developmentally supportive cue based strategies more often during feeding interactions. Feeding is a daily topic of conversation and our team is more consistently documenting and discussing feeding readiness and quality in relation to
the feeding progression of infants in our care. Results also helped us to identify several areas of program development to continue to improve our efforts to shift our unit to a cue based feeding model. ☐ The information found in this project will help expand other evidence-based research initiatives regarding infant feeding and nutrition. The data will also be used to improve our initial implementation efforts in regard to cue based feeding on our unit.