Affiliation:
1. Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive Care The Children's Hospital of Westmead Sydney New South Wales Australia
2. Western Sydney University Sydney New South Wales Australia
3. Department of Paediatric Surgery The Children's Hospital at Westmead Sydney New South Wales Australia
4. The University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
Abstract
AimThe primary objective of this study is to determine the impact of a standardised feeding protocol for infants with gastroschisis on early enteral feeds, suck feeds, management of gastric residuals and breastfeeding at discharge. Secondary objectives were evaluation of growth, length of stay in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the duration of total parental nutrition (TPN), blood‐culture confirmed sepsis and serum bilirubin level (SBR).MethodsThis single‐centre retrospective quality improvement project included infants admitted to a quaternary care NICU for management of gastroschisis from 2010 to 2021. The Gastroschisis feeding protocol, a standardised pathway for managing the feeding of infants with gastroschisis, was implemented in this NICU in 2016. The outcomes of infants in the pre‐feeding protocol and post‐feeding protocol groups were compared.ResultsOf the 100 infants included in the study, 49 were in the post‐feeding protocol group. The baseline characteristics of the study population did not differ statistically in both groups. In post‐feeding protocol group, there was significant reduction in the time to the first enteral feed (P value <0.0001) and first suck feed (P value = 0.002). The median length of stay in the post‐feeding protocol group was significantly lower by 11 days (P value = 0.001). Duration of TPN was 241 h higher in the pre‐feeding protocol group (P value 0.0007).ConclusionsImplementation of a feeding protocol in infants with gastroschisis led to earlier initiation of enteral feeds and suck feeds. There is a likelihood of reduction in the use of TPN and duration of admission in NICU.