Effect of cluster based care on the enteral nutrition for low birth weight infants

Abstract

Objective To study the effect of cluster based care on the enteral nutrition for very low birth weight(VLBW)infants and extremely low birth weight(ELBW)infants. Methods A total of 68 VLBW or ELBW infants from June 2016 to November 2017 at General Hospital of Jinan Military Command were randomly divided into an observation group and control group.The infants in control group was given routine enteral nutrition nursing, and the infants in observation group were received non-nutritive sucking, oral massage, oral support, assessment of oral feeding ability, abdominal massage, helping defecation and other cluster based care on the basis of routine nursing.The differences of the average weight gain, the time regain to birth weight, the age of weight up to 2 000 g and hospitalization days between the two groups were compared. Results The average weight gain of observation group was(18.7±2.7)g/d, higher than that of control group(14.2±1.3)g/d.The time regain to birth weight of observation group was(13.6±4.4)d, shorter than that of control group(22.2±3.1)d.The age of weight up to 2 000 g of observation group was(31.5±3.5)d, shorter than that of control group(43.5±2.5)d.The hospitalization days of observation group was(40.1±6.2)d, shorter than that of control group(53.1±5.2)d.The differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05). Conclusion Cluster based care can speed up the average weight gain of VLBW and ELBW infants, shorten the time regain to birth weight and the age weight up to 2 000 g, reduce the hospitalization days, and is worthy of clinical promotion. Key words: Low birth weight infant; Enteral nutrition; Cluster based care