Congratulations to Julie Kuzin, DNP, APRN, CPNP-AC/PC, who was awarded the 19th annual Nurse Scientist Award for Best Nursing Abstract at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Cardiology 2024 conference in February.
“Malnutrition and oral feeding difficulties are common problems for hospitalized infants with congenital heart disease, and often contribute to a prolonged hospitalization,” said Kuzin. “There is no consensus on when the nasogastric tube (NG) should be removed, but while working on my doctorate, I discovered evidence that standardizing the threshold for NG removal may decrease length of stay.”
Along with project partners Amanda Willis, DNP, CPNP-PC/AC, Dr. Alan Riley and Dr. Shreya Sheth, Kuzin decided on the 60% threshold and the NG Free campaign was born. The initiative was launched in the Heart Center’s acute care units (LT 22 and 23) in January 2023 with successful results. Julie and her team are hopeful to incorporate the practice into Heart Center feeding guidelines, and a manuscript for publication is in the works.