Refeeding syndrome knowledge among healthcare providers in a tertiary care pediatric center: a pre- and post-effective education & awareness test analysis.

Authors

Faten Ahmad AlKateb, Nora Khalid Alanazy, Asma Fayez Basakran, Sameer Mehmadi

Published in

BMC medical education. Jul 11, 2026. Epub Jul 11, 2026.

Abstract

Refeeding syndrome (RFS) is a potentially fatal condition with reported pediatric intensive care incidence rates up to 7.4%. Despite heightened vulnerability in children due to higher metabolic rates, substantial knowledge deficits persist among pediatric healthcare providers regarding RFS recognition and management, creating critical patient safety risks.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive multimodal educational intervention in improving refeeding syndrome knowledge among pediatric healthcare providers in a tertiary care setting.
A prospective pre-post interventional study was conducted from November 2024 to May 2025. Following baseline knowledge assessment using a validated 16-item questionnaire, participants received a 6-month structured educational intervention comprising lectures, evidence-based guidelines, multimedia resources, and reinforcement activities. Post-intervention assessment evaluated knowledge improvement across fundamental understanding and clinical management domains.
Sixty-nine participants completed baseline assessment, with 62 completing follow-up (89.9% retention). Significant improvements occurred across all domains: comprehensive RFS definition recognition (58.5% to 83.9%, p = 0.002), metabolic disturbance understanding (60.3% to 87.3%, p = 0.0006), timing recognition (44.6% to 77.4%, p = 0.002), risk stratification (43.5% to 71.0%, p = 0.001), electrolyte monitoring protocols (39.1% to 74.2%, p < 0.001), and clinical scenario management (43.5% to 79.0%, p < 0.001). Excellent fundamental knowledge performance increased from 47.8% to 79.0%, while poor performance decreased from 18.8% to 3.2% (p < 0.001). Fellows and senior residents demonstrated greater improvement than junior residents, suggesting experience-dependent educational responsiveness.
Structured multimodal educational interventions produce substantial, clinically meaningful improvements in pediatric RFS knowledge across all competency domains. These findings support implementing systematic RFS education programs in pediatric institutions to enhance patient safety, with particular attention to experience-appropriate content delivery for optimal educational effectiveness.

PMID:
42436436
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Jul 2026.

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