FEES (fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing)

The team is delighted to tell you a little about this exciting new evaluation starting in our unit.

As an idea brought up by our Occupational Therapist (Megan Smith-Morin) this has recently come into fruition.

Our team specializes in the care of extremely premature infants. This means that some of these infants are born at the limits of viability and stay on mechanical ventilation for prolonged periods of time. The effects of being born premature and the effects of requiring manipulation and positive pressure in their airways for prolonged periods of time puts these infants at risk of having difficulty feeding.

FEES (fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing) is a dynamic way of evaluating the feeding process of an infant in real time. It requires the placement of a flexible endoscope through the nare of an infant and watching while they feed. Any penetration or pooling could suggest that the patient requires either a different bottle, position or thickness of their feed. All of this can then be re-evaluated in real time.

We have been lucky that Dr. Carol Nhan, a Pediatric Otolaryngologist, has joined our team to do these evaluations. We truly believe that proper evaluation of feeding safety prior to discharge for our most premature infants is the way forward.

Dr. Carol Nhan

Otolaryngologist

Megan Smith-Morin

Occupational Therapist

We are excited to have launched this initiative on November 4, 2022. See video below!