Reducing Procedural Pain and Avoiding Peripheral Intravenous Catheters by Implementing a Feeding Protocol for Late Preterm Infants: A Quality Improvement Project.

Background: Late preterm births account for a large portion of preterm births, yet the optimal method of nutrition and enteral feeding in this population remains unclear and often involves intravenous (IV) fluids.

Purpose: To develop and implement a late preterm feeding protocol in order to decrease the necessity of IV access, decrease the use of starter parenteral nutrition (PN), and reduce the pain endured by an infant in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Methods: The Plan-Do-Study-Act quality improvement model was utilized as a framework for the implementation of this quality improvement project.