Nursing Practice Toward Transition Oral Feeding Care
Keywords:
Preterm Neonates, Oral Feeding, NursesAbstract
Researchers evaluated neonatal nurses' knowledge, methods, and attitudes towards transitioning preterm infants to oral feeding. Fifty-four nurses who worked in the infants' ward at Al-Amara Hospitals (A-Hakeem Teaching Hospital) in Iraq were evaluated between June and December 2024. The morning shift crew was chosen at randomly a cross-sectional investigation. The trial has been authorized by the hospital's Ethics Commission. According to a literature analysis of prior research on oral feeding transition, tools in the structure of a questionnaire were developed to assess the importance of nursing practice in transitioning oral nutrition care for premature newborns. Nurses' practices are scored and rated as either good (10-18) or poor (0-9). This survey reveals that the age range between 25-29 has the highest number of nurses (33.3%), whilst the age range between 30-34 has the lowest number of nurses (5.6%). According to gender, female nurses outnumber male staff nurses (12 female healthcare professionals to 6 male nurses). In terms of educational level, nurses with a school of nursing accounted for 33.3% of the study group, six nurses had 3-4 years of experience in pediatric nursing, seven nurses had 1-2 years of experience in the NICU, and 44.4% of the study group had no NICU training courses. The study identifies gaps in neonatal nursing expertise and procedures regarding the transition to oral feeding in premature babies. Enhancing baby care and its results necessitates targeted educational interventions and ongoing support to bridge these gaps. The findings indicated that a vast. A large number of nurses lacked adequate knowledge of critical areas such as as oromotor operation, the suck-swallowbreathe everyday life, and nonnutritive sucking. These knowledge gaps could affect what nurses may give. Staff members in intensive care units for newborns should use evidence-based techniques such skin-to-skin care, non-nutritive the field of nursing, test weight, alternate feeding methods, and nipple shields to ease the transition to complete oral eating.
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