NICU Quality and Safety Initiatives

The quality of our babies’ care and their families’ NICU experiences are of utmost importance to the entire Department of Pediatrics staff.

Quality Dashboard

We evaluate our performance by measuring—over the long term—the following hospital metrics:

  • Hand hygiene performance
  • Central-line-associated bloodstream infections
  • Admission temperature for very low birthweight infants
  • Admission temperature for extremely low birthweight infants
  • Unplanned extubations

In addition, we benchmark our performance as a member of the Vermont-Oxford Network.

BWH Quality Improvement Projects

Newborn Intensive Care Unit

  • NeoQIC Human Milk Improvement Initiative
  • NeoQIC/Vermont Oxford iNICU Neonatal Abstinence Initiative
  • Improving the MRI Process in the NICU
  • Improving Communication of Medical Information in the NICU
  • CPIP: Improving the Use of aEEG in the NICU
  • Improving Survival without Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
  • Reducing Rates of Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Neonatal-Perinatal Fellow Projects in the NICU

  • Improving Early Enteral Feeding in the NICU
  • HIE and Therapeutic Hypothermia: Improving Time to Cooling

Well Baby Nursery

  • Improving the Newborn Screening Process in the Well Baby Nurseries
  • CPIP Project on Improving Efficiency and Timeliness of Collection and Processing of the Massachusetts Newborn Screening samples
  • Participation in mPINC surveys of breastfeeding rates
  • Preparation for application for Baby-Friendly Hospital designation
  • Recent publication of study exploring the outcomes of Critical Congenital Heart Disease screening at BWH

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