Quality Improvement and Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in preterm newborns. Long-term neurodevelopment has become a critical area in NEC research, shifting the focus from survival alone to minimizing impairment as the primary goal. The mother's own milk is the optimal nutrition for preterm infants, and several well-controlled clinical trials have shown that human milk feeding can decrease the incidence of NEC. Clinical studies of exclusive human milk feeding are associated with significant reduction in rates of NEC. Some recent studies suggest that preterm infants who received human milk-based fortifier had an approximately 64% lower odds of developing NEC compared to those fed bovine-based fortifiers. Long-term neurodevelopment has become a critical area in NEC research, shifting the focus from survival alone to minimizing impairment as the primary goal. Quality measurement systems are a substantial investment in time and training but are required to ensure that people can collect, record, and interpret data correctly.