Dear CHIFA colleagues,
Below are the citation, results and extracts of a new study in BMC Nutrition (thanks to HIFA member Claire Glenton)
CITATION: Søiland, E., Glenton, C., Munabi-Babigumira, S. et al. Factors that influence the provision of enteral feeding for critically ill children: a qualitative evidence synthesis. BMC Nutr 11, 98 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-025-01077-3
RESULTS
We included 14 studies, with four from critical care settings. Where we had concerns that the context of the studies may be less relevant to the setting, intervention and population of interest, we indicated this inour GRADE-CERQual assessment. We had moderate, low or very low confidence in our findings, in part due to the indirectness of the evidence. Moderate confidence findings indicated that parents were concerned about discomfort and side effects, and that a lack of resources could be a barrier to providing optimal nutritional support. Low confidence findings suggested that healthcare workers lacked the knowledge and skills to provide adequate nutritional support, and that receiving support, information, and participating in decision-making around enteral feeding was important to some parents.
EXTRACTS
Parents and older children described being worried about discomfort, pain, and other complications of tube feeding before enteral feeding was initiated. Their anxiety appeared to be related to a lack of knowledge about and experience of enteral feeding (moderate confidence).
Some healthcare workers reported that they lacked knowledge and skills to provide adequate enteral feeding for critically ill children. They described variations in practice due to a lack of clear criteria.
Junior PICU physicians in one study said they based their practices on senior physicians’ knowledge and practices, which seemed to vary from case to case and not follow any specific rules.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org