Techs hone infant feeding safety skills with recent training

Three WVU Medicine Children’s infant feeding technicians recently completed an on-site, 26-hour training program from Columbus State Community College in Ohio.

Kait Allen, Jim Gherardi and Beth Kneiss received certificates after being trained in all areas of infant formula and human milk preparation based on the Academy of Dietetics "Infant Feedings: Guidelines for Preparation of Human milk and Formula in Health Care Facilities."

In December, 2015 the technicians began preparing human milk in addition to infant formula for patients of WVU Medicine Children's. The recent training is the second step in the plan to increase patient safety for infants in WVU Medicine Children's with plans for additional steps in the near future. The first step was hiring the new technicians based on a WVU Medicine Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) team’s recommendations for infant feeding safety.

Each infant feeding technician has a four- year degree in nutrition and each is a registered dietetic technician through the Commission on Dietetic Registration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, according to Jill Johnston, clinical nutrition manager and dietetic internship director for WVU Medicine.

The training was led by Marsha Dumm, a part-time faculty member at Columbus State and neonatal dietitian at Nationwide Children's Hospital.