Quality Improvement Through Nurse-initiated Kaiser Sepsis Calculator at a County Hospital.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Suspected early onset sepsis drives most antibiotic use in the newborn nursery. The Kaiser Sepsis Calculator (KSC) is a validated tool that safely decreases laboratory evaluation and antibiotic administration in infants aged ≥34 weeks. Our quality improvement aim was a nurse-initiated, KSC-based program to decrease blood cultures (BCx) and complete blood counts (CBC) by 10% from March 2021 to October 2021 among chorioamnionitis-exposed infants born ≥35 weeks' gestation. A secondary aim was to decrease antibiotic administration by 10%. METHODS: The KSC was implemented for infants at University Health, a county hospital affiliate of the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, with a level I nursery and level IV NICU. The multidisciplinary project included pediatric hospitalists, neonatologists, family practitioners, maternal-fetal medicine physicians, fellows, residents, and nurses. All infants born 6 months before (August 2020-January 2021) and 7 months after protocol implementation (March 2021-September 2021) were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 53 chorioamnionitis-exposed infants were included from the preintervention period and 51 from the postintervention period. CBC utilization decreased from 96% to 27%, BCx utilization decreased from 98% to 37%, and antibiotic utilization fell from 25% to 16%. In no cases were antibiotics prescribed against the KSC, and to our knowledge, no early onset sepsis diagnoses or infection-related hospital readmissions were missed. CONCLUSIONS: The multidisciplinary implementation of the KSC led to a reduction in testing, exceeding our initial goal. A nurse-initiated protocol reduced BCx, CBC, and antibiotic utilization among chorioamnionitis-exposed infants.

Neonatal bloodstream infections.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Neonatal bloodstream infections (BSI) are a major contributor to morbidity and mortality within neonatal intensive care units. BSI, including central line-associated BSI, have decreased over the past 15 years but remain common in extremely preterm infants. The purpose of this review is to highlight recent advances in the causes, diagnosis, management, and prevention of neonatal BSI. RECENT FINDINGS: Continued quality improvement efforts and bundles have reduced BSI incidence, and novel approaches are highlighted. An update of emerging pathogens as well as traditional pathogens with novel antimicrobial resistance, which are an increasingly common cause of neonatal BSI, is included. Finally, current and future investigations into serum or noninvasive biomarkers for neonatal BSI are reviewed. SUMMARY: Neonatal BSIs continue to decrease due to enhanced infection control and prevention techniques. However, many challenges remain, including emerging bacterial and fungal resistance and the continued need for novel diagnostics that hasten time to pathogen identification and effective treatment. This review of the past 18 months highlights the rapid changes in this area. Ongoing efforts to reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by neonatal BSI must remain a priority.

80 Years of vision: preventing blindness from retinopathy of prematurity.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the leading yet preventable causes of childhood blindness worldwide. The purpose of this review is to provide a practical template for observational and treatment methods in order to reduce the overall incidence of any ROP and to improve both short-term and long-term outcomes once Type 1 ROP (treatable ROP) develops.