Standardized Application of Feeding Evaluations Using SMART Tool
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
3,500 participants
Aug 1, 2025
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
Premature and medically complex infants have delayed development of oral feeding skills, leading to prolonged hospitalization, costs, and family stress. There is no "gold standard" infant feeding skill assessment tool for bedside clinicians. The research team developed a novel feeding skill assessment, the SMART Tool, to monitor infant feeding skill development in the neonatal intensive care unit. This study aims to determine whether this tool improves clinical outcomes, including reduced hospital days and enhanced safety and quality of infant feedings.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria1
- Infants born between August 1, 2025, and July 31, 2026, AND admitted to NICU
Exclusion Criteria1
- No oral feeding started by July 15, 2026
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Interventions
The intervention in this implementation study involves (1) integrating the SMART Tool into electronic health records (EPIC), (2) educating all NICU staff (about 850 nurses, lactation consultants, speech-language pathologists, and physicians), and (3) Quality improvement to reinforce learning.
Locations(14)
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NCT07136610