Introduction: Immaturity of preterm infant affect their overall development, including their feeding process. In most cases they have to be fed enteral and parenteral, due to their inability to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing. Purpose: The purpose of the diploma work is to present the role of a nurse in the process of transition from enteral to oral feeding of preterm infant, which involves assessing the ability of oral feeding of preterm infant and oral-motor intervention to stimulate oral feeding of preterm infant. Methods: In the diploma work is used descriptive method of work with a critical review of domestic and foreign literature. The literature was searched by ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, CINAHL and PubMed databases, and by reviewing the reference lists. In diploma work are used professional, transparent and original scientific articles in Slovene and English language. Results: Numerous studies have shown that nurses have an important role in the transition, as they perform oral-motor interventions, which significantly contribute to faster transition and more effective oral feeding. Discussion and conclusion: Transition from enteral to oral feeding is a very important step in medical treatment of premature infants. Fast and effective promotion of the transition is one of the main goals of premature infant, because successful oral nutrition is one of the most important factors that indicate the preterm infants willingness to leave the hospital. Determining the right moment to initiate the introduction of oral nutrition is a challenging task, that's why, the nurse should really know and observe premature infants, be aware of the rating scales for assessing the preterm infant readinessfor oral feeding and also be able to use them. One of the most important roles of the nurse in the transition to oral nutrition are oral and nonoral sensory-motor interventions that accelerate readiness and process of transition from enteral to oral feeding of premature infants.
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