Assessment of Oral Feeding Readiness in Preterm Infant by using Preterm Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale (POFRAS)

Authors

Seham Mousa, Pediatrics and Neonatology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, EgyptFollow
Eman Almorsy, Pediatrics and Neonatology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
Hanaa Abou-Elyazid, Public health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
Naglaa Fathy, Pediatrics and Neonatology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

Corresponding Author

Seham Mousa

Document Type

Original Article

Abstract

Background: Because of the disorganized behavioral state, metabolic instability, and developmental immaturity, assessment of the ability to initiate oral feeding in cases of preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is complex and diverse. So, neonatologists need a validated instrument that permits identifying the weaknesses and strengths of preterm infants who are in the process of transitioning from gastric to oral feeding.

Objective: The aim was to measure the validity and reliability of the preterm oral feeding readiness assessment scale (POFRAS) and to evaluate readiness of preterm infants to start oral feeding safely by using POFRAS.

Methods: This cross-sectional, observational study was carried out on 100 preterm newborns, aged between 30 and 36 weeks at birth, who were hospitalized in the pediatric department's neonatal critical care unit at Al-Zahraa University Hospital.

Results: The studied cases were 100 with a male-to-female ratio of 1:1.The intra-rater reliability of the total POFRAS score was good with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.99 (p