Counting unplanned extubations: marked variation among neonatologists.

OBJECTIVE: To assess if neonatologists detect and count unplanned extubations (UEs) uniformly. STUDY DESIGN: An Institutional Review Board-exempted anonymous web-based survey of neonatology attending and fellow members of the AAP Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine section was administered. Respondents were queried on practices concerning UE; they were then presented with different case scenarios and asked if they would count the event as a UE. RESULTS: Of the 509 respondents, 61% track UE rates. Of those who track UE rates, 53% reported rates of 1-3 per 100 ventilator days. The top two factors perceived as causing UEs were endotracheal tube (ETT) dislodgement by patient (65%) and failure of ETT holding system at attachment to the face (56%). In the various scenarios where ETT was urgently removed by staff, only 19 to 62% of respondents counted the event as a UE, including 23% if the ETT was removed by the attending. There was consensus on the scenarios representing self-extubation and elective change of the ETT. CONCLUSIONS: There is wide variation in methods for detecting and counting UE events among neonatologists, which precludes comparison of UE rates across institutions. We speculate that a standardized definition and classification of events will enable benchmarking among neonatal intensive care units, which should accelerate collaborative improvement efforts towards reducing UEs in neonates.

One size does not fit all: why universal decolonization strategies to prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization and infection in adult intensive care units may be inappropriate for neonatal intensive care units.

The REDUCE MRSA Trial (Randomized Evaluation of Decolonization vs Universal Clearance to Eliminate Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a large multicenter, randomized controlled trial in adult intensive care units (ICUs), found universal decolonization to be more effective than surveillance and isolation procedures with or without targeted decolonization for reducing rates of MRSA-positive clinical cultures. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention subsequently published protocols for implementing universal decolonization in ICUs based on the trial's methods. Caution should be exercised before widely adopting these procedures in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), particularly strategies that involve bathing with chlorhexidine and mupirocin application due to the potential for adverse events in their unique patient population, especially preterm infants. Large multicenter trials in the NICUs are needed to evaluate the efficacy, short- and long-term safety, and cost effectiveness of these strategies prior to their widespread implementation.

Late-onset Leclercia adecarboxylata sepsis in a premature neonate.

The epidemiology, etiology and outcome of neonatal sepsis are changing over time. While monitoring longitudinal trends in neonatal sepsis in our institution, we encountered a case of late-onset neonatal sepsis due to Leclercia adecarboxylata. A Gram-negative rod previously not encountered in the clinical setting, L. adecarboxylata has recently emerged as a human pathogen, primarily in immunosuppressed patients. This report describes the clinical and laboratory features of this case of late-onset L. adecarboxylata sepsis, and reviews significant features of infection associated with this emerging pathogen.