Background: Neonatal registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) are critical members of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) team. Ideal RDN staffing levels are unknown. Current staffing levels of neonatal RDNs in Canadian NICUs have not been recently reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This survey described the compensation of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) in the United States and examined correlates of higher salaries within this group.
Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was completed in 2021 by 143 NICU RDNs from 127 US hospitals who reported hourly wage in US dollars (USD). We used initial bivariate analyses to assess the relationship of selected institution-level and individual-level variables to hourly wage; the rank-sum test for binary variables; bivariate regression and Pearson correlation coefficients for continuous variables; the Kruskal-Wallis test for categorical variables.
Neonatal registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) are critical members of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) team due to their unique skillset of growth assessment, nutrition evaluation, and implementation of nutrition best practices. There is a paucity of data on appropriate staffing of neonatal RDNs in NICUs to promote improved patient outcomes. Here, the authors describe current neonatal RDN staffing and responsibilities in the US NICUs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman milk is the ideal source of nutrition for most infants, but significant gaps remain in our understanding of human milk biology. As part of addressing these gaps, the Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN) Project Working Groups 1-4 interrogated the state of knowledge regarding the infant-human milk-lactating parent triad. However, to optimize the impact of newly generated knowledge across all stages of human milk research, the need remained for a translational research framework specific to the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSemin Fetal Neonatal Med
October 2022
Human milk's variable macronutrient composition is a necessary consideration when caring for very low birthweight infants. Targeted fortification is the practice of fortifying human milk using its known composition from human milk analysis, rather than its assumed macronutrient values. Utilization of human milk analyzers to measure the protein, fat, lactose, and energy composition within human milk samples has allowed the translation of this practice into the clinical setting.
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