New strategy helps with discharging preemies
New strategy helps with discharging preemies
Physicians at the Neonatal and Infant Feeding Disorders Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, have developed a new strategy for helping premature infants with severe swallowing difficulties that might delay their inpatient discharge.
The strategy helps the infants learn to feed on their own, which improves their quality of life, assists with a timely discharge, and would save an estimated $1.8 million in health care costs associated with gastric feeding tubes, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition.
The study found that physicians could help 15 out of 20 infants, who had severe feeding difficulties and airway problems, learn to feed by mouth.
Babies that experience difficulty feeding often have extended hospital stays, which results in expensive medical bills.
The program uses a special feeding tube with advanced sensors, capturing the rhythm of muscular contractions throughout the entire aero-digestive tract.
Clinicians evaluate the signals from the tube and then share the data with a multidisciplinary team that develops an individualized strategy for the infant
Physicians at the Neonatal and Infant Feeding Disorders Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, have developed a new strategy for helping premature infants with severe swallowing difficulties that might delay their inpatient discharge.Subscribe Now for Access
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