Abstract
Objective
To examine the current trends and practices across disciplines for feeding infants with cleft palate with or without cleft lip and to describe provider training within this area
Design
Prospective survey
Setting
ACPA approved cleft palate teams and healthcare providers in the United States and Canada
Participants
Interdisciplinary providers that regularly provide feeding services to infants with cleft palate
Intervention
50-item survey designed and distributed electronically via the ACPA
Main Outcome Measures
Information on provider demographics and practice patterns
Results
76 respondents included providers in North America that have either currently or previously served on a cleft palate team. The majority of respondents were in speech-language pathology (49%) or nursing (38%) disciplines, worked in an outpatient setting (70%), and received no information (68%) regarding cleft palate feeding in their academic training. While specific practice patterns were relatively consistent across the respondent cohort, provider characteristics were significantly associated with squeezing the Haberman (p = .013) and likelihood of collaboration with other providers when counseling parents/caregivers (p = .039).
Conclusions
While provider characteristics varied, there were similar practice patterns observed across disciplines. Future research is needed explore training related to feeding knowledge as well as practice patterns in locations with a lower patient volume.
Keywords
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