Collaboration to Improve Neuroprotection and Neuropromotion in the NICU: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Implementation of neuroprotective and neuropromotive (NP2) strategies is essential to optimize outcomes for premature infants. Developmental care, once an addition to medical care, is now recognized by the NICU team as foundational to support long-term neurodevelopment of micropremature infants. A group approach to education and sharing implementation processes can result in collaborative and individual center improvements. This article includes examples of quality improvement (QI) education and tools inspired by implementation of NP2 strategies in a consortium of 11 NICUs in the United States and Canada. Process change guided by potentially better practices are key; however, consistency of application must be included to ensure success. Assessment of NP2 practices via use of surveys and practice audits are described. Increases occurred in family NP2 education and provision of support during painful experiences. There were also increases in skin-to-skin holding, 2-person caregiving, and focus on reducing unnecessary painful procedures.

Availability of Donor Human Milk Decreases the Incidence of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in VLBW Infants.

BACKGROUND: Human milk feeding is associated with decreased risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). PURPOSE: To determine whether a quality improvement project in New Jersey neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) to promote human milk (HM) feedings would be associated with a decrease in NEC. METHODS: Fourteen New Jersey NICUs engaged in efforts to reduce infection and promote HM feeding in very low birth-weight (VLBW) infants. Donor human milk (DHM) availability and NEC rates were assessed. RESULTS: From 2009 to 2016, NICUs with DHM increased from 0 to 7. VLBW infants discharged on any HM increased from 35% in 2007 before the formation of the New Jersey NICU Collaborative to more than 55% in 2016. Time to first oropharyngeal colostrum decreased from 37 to 30 hours from 2014 to 2016. HM at first feeding increased from 71% in 2013 to 82% in 2016. There was an increase in the percentage of feeds that were HM over the first 7 days of feeding. Analyses of data from 9400 VLBW infants born between 2009 and 2016 showed that the incidence of NEC when DHM was not available was 5.1% (367/7182) whereas the incidence when DHM was available (64/2218) was significantly lower (2.9%; P < .0001). IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: These findings show advantages of feeding HM and effectiveness of forming an NICU collaborative for improving care for preterm infants. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: New research projects should measure the quantity of HM consumed daily during the entire NICU stay and assess the timing and amount of HM consumption in relationship to incidence of NEC and infection in neonates.

Continued improvement in morbidity reduction in extremely premature infants.

OBJECTIVE: Provide a progress report updating our long-term quality improvement collaboration focused on major morbidity reduction in extremely premature infants 23-27 weeks. METHODS: 10 Vermont Oxford Network (VON) neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) (the POD) sustained a structured alliance: (A) face-to-face meetings, site visits and teleconferences, (B) transparent process and outcomes sharing, (C) utilisation of evidence-based potentially better practice toolkits, (D) family integration and (E) benchmarking via a composite mortality-morbidity score (Benefit Metric). Morbidity-specific toolkits were employed variably by each NICU according to local priorities. The eight major VON morbidities and the risk-adjusted Benefit Metric were compared in two epochs 2010-2013 versus 2014-2018. RESULTS: 5888 infants, mean (SD) gestational age 25.8 (1.4) weeks, were tracked. The POD Benefit Metric significantly improved (p=0.03) and remained superior to the aggregate VON both epochs (p<0.001). Four POD morbidities significantly improved through 2018 - chronic lung disease (48%-40%), discharge weight <10th percentile (32%-22%), any late infection (19%-17%) and periventricular leukomalacia (4%-2%). In epoch 2, 34% of survivors had none of the eight major morbidities, while 36% had just one. Mortality did not change. CONCLUSIONS: Inter-NICU collaboration, process and outcomes sharing and potentially better practice toolkits sustain improvement in 23-27 week morbidity rates, notably chronic lung disease, extrauterine growth restriction and the lowest zero-or-one major morbidity rate reported by a quality improvement collaboration. Unrevealed biological and cultural variables affect morbidity rates, countless remain unmeasured, thus duplication to other quality improvement groups is challenging. Understanding intensive care as innumerable interactions and constant flux that defy convenient linear constructs is fundamental.

Sustained quality improvement collaboration and composite morbidity reduction in extremely low gestational age newborns.

AIM: Continuous quality improvement has failed to consistently reduce morbidities in extremely low gestational age newborns 23-27 weeks. 10 Vermont Oxford Network NICUs describe a novel, sustained collaboration for progress. METHODS: We emphasised a) commitment to inter-NICU trust with face-to-face meetings, site visits, teleconferences, scrutiny of quality improvement methodology, b) transparent process and outcomes sharing, c) evidence-based formulation of an orchestrated testing matrix to select potentially better practices, d) family integration, e) benchmarking with a composite mortality-morbidity score (Benefit Metric). RESULTS: A total of 4709 infants, mean (SD) gestational age 25.8 (1.4) weeks, admitted to 10 NICUs 1.01.2010 to 12.31.2016. The orchestrated matrix offered 45 potentially better practices; NICUs implemented mean 29 (range 19-40). There was widespread adoption of delivery room, respiratory care and infection prevention practices, but no uniform pattern. Our Benefit Metric was significantly greater than the Vermont Oxford Network all seven years (p < 0.001). Six major morbidities decreased, two significantly (p < 0.05), mortality unchanged (14%). 34% of survivors had no morbidities, 35% just one. CONCLUSION: Cultivating trust, transparent outcomes sharing, and tailored, potentially better practice selection is associated with encouraging improvement in 23- to 27-week survival without morbidity. Our outcomes are objective but the optimal implementation pathway to sustain progress remains murky, reflective of NICUs as complex adaptive networks.