Overcoming our natural modesty and our reticence to 'toot our own horn' we are pleased to share the news that our own Marty McCaffrey has been honored by the North Carolina Perinatal Association.
“Baby Hero” is a song that was created to give a voice to everyone involved in the care of premature babies. We want all caregivers and babies around the world to know that they have a family. This song is dedicated to the doctors and nurses that work daily to ensure the best care for their fragile patients; to the parents who work relentlessly with great determination and hope to give their babies the love they so need; and to the babies themselves that continue to fight for a better day.
SPEAKER: Debra Bingham, DrPH, RN, LCCE Executive Director of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative President-elect of Lamaze International
Babies born just 1 or 2 weeks before their 40-week gestation due date are more likely to develop learning difficulties such as autism or dyslexia, according to a British study published on Tuesday.
The findings show that even babies born at 39 weeks -- the point at which many women who choose to have a Caesarean section delivery -- have an increased risk of a developing a learning disability compared with babies born a week later at 40 weeks.
6/8/2010 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM, Andrews Center, Raleigh NC
This intensive one-day conference is designed to provide physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses with an opportunity to learn about new strategies/techniques and important concepts in the field of neonatology. It will provide both the advanced and novice healthcare provider with evidence-based clinical practice information that can be utilized in their everyday practice to improve the health care and outcomes of the late preterm infant.
Objectives: 1. Identify the causes and consequences of late preterm deliveries. 2. Identify the value of using simulation technology in educating caregivers to perform neonatal resuscitation. 3. Identify potential benefits of practicing delayed cord clamping in premature patients. 4. Review the latest evidence-based practice information for the reduction and elimination of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). 5. Compare neonatal healthcare in a third world country as is relates to disaster stricken areas in the US and abroad. 6. Discuss the management of the 23-24 week infant in the delivery room and review their outcome data. 7. List evidence-based medication therapies for infants with drug-resistant infections.
The webinar will provide maternal/child nurses with the basics of using simulation by providing an immersive patient care experience and creating and capturing the objective performance measures in a dynamic simulation setting.
Perinatal loss is a difficult time for both the family involved and caregivers. This conference will address Perinatal Hospice and Palliative Care, Legal and Ethical Issues Related to Perinatal Loss, Pregnancy Following a Perinatal Loss, Creating Memories, Caring for the Caregiver and include a Parent Panel to cover issues surrounding perinatal loss from multidisciplinary perspectives.
Presented by the UNC School of Nursing / Center for Lifelong Learning
Held April 23, 2010 at the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill, NC
6.0 ANCC Contact Hours Cost: $85 or $75 Early Bird registration by 3/15/2010. You can register here
For further information, please call the CLL at 919-966-3638.
OBJECTIVE Quality improvement collaboratives (QICs) can improve short-term outcomes, but few have examined their long-term results. This study evaluated the changes in treatment practices and outcomesassociated with participation in multiple sequential QICs.
DESIGN AND METHODS This retrospective, 9-year, pre-post study of very low birth weight infants, we assessed treatment and outcomes from the 8 NICUs of the Reduce Lung Injury (ReLI) group of a QIC sponsored by the Vermont Oxford Network (VON). We analyzed data from 1998 (pre-ReLI), 2001 (last ReLI year), and 2006 (5 years after ReLI) by using univariate and multiple regression.
RESULTS A total of 4065 very low birth weight infants were treated in ReLI NICUs in 1998, 2001, and 2006. From 1998 to 2006, the ReLI group decreased delivery room intubation (70% vs 52%; adjustedodds ratio [aOR]: 0.2 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.2–0.3]; P < .001), conventional ventilation (75% vs 62%; aOR: 0.3 [95% CI: 0.2–0.4]; P < .001), and postnatal steroids for BPD (35% vs 10%; aOR: 0.09 [95% CI: 0.07–0.1]; P < .001). They increased the use of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (57% vs 78%; aOR: 3.3 [95% CI: 2.7–3.9]; P < .001). BPD-free survival remained unchanged (68% vs 66%; aOR: 0.9 [95% CI: 0.7–1.1]; P = .16), the BPD rate increased (25% vs 29%; aOR: 1.3 [95% CI: 1.1–1.6]; P = .017), survival to discharge increased (90% vs 93%; aOR: 1.5 [95% CI: 1.1–2.2]; P < .001), and nosocomial infections decreased (18% vs 15%; aOR: 0.8 [95% CI: 0.6–0.99]; P = .045).
CONCLUSIONS Participation in VON–sponsored QICs was associated with sustained implementation of potentially better respiratory practices, increased survival, and reduced nosocomial infections. The BPD-free survival rate did not change, and the BPD rate increased. Implementedchanges endured for at least 5 years after the QIC.
You can now listen to the Symposium on Quality Improvement to Prevent Prematurity, held October 8 and 9, 2009, in Arlington, Va., and view all presentations for free through Clinical Directors Network (CDN). Learn about quality initiatives to prevent preterm birth and decrease the rate of those preterm births that are not inevitable or medically necessary.
The Symposium discussed quality improvement as an essential component in the strategy to prevent prematurity, promote health and reduce costs. Diverse professionals and experts involved in this event included:
• Mark Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, President, The Joint Commission • Hal Lawrence, III, MD, FACOG, Vice President, Practice Activities, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists • Carolyn Clancy, MD, Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality • Charles Homer, MD, MPH, CEO, National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) • Melissa Avery, CNM, PhD, FACNM, FAAN, President, American College of Nurse-Midwives (A.C.N.M.) • Nancy Jo Reedy, CNM, MPH, FACNM, Secretary, A.C.N.M. Foundation • Lora Sparkman, RN, MHA, Director, Clinical Excellence, Ascension Health • Barbara Fildes, MS, CNM, FACNM, New England Obstetric Safety Initiative • Helen Darling, President, National Business Group on Health • Judith Palfrey, MD, FAAP, President, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) • Kim Armour, NP-BC, APN, MSN, RDMS, 2009 President, Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) • Panelists from Hospital Corporation of American, Intermountain Healthcare, Premier Health, Geisinger Health System, UnitedHealthcare
Program Description The 3rd Evidence-Based Maternity Care conference will focus on high risk maternity care. What is the evidence for our high risk interventions? How can we care for women with high risk pregnancies while maintaining a high touch approach to her birth experience?
Program Schedule Registration begins at 8:00AM. This day long program begins at 8:30AM.
Topics Hypertension Obesity Endocrine Disorders VBAC Facilitating Breastfeeding with Complicated Pregnancies and Labors Perinatal Quality Collaborative of NC Update Speakers Ellen Chetwynd, RN, BSN, IBCLC, Lactation Consultant, UNC-CH Dept. of Family Medicine, Women's Birth and Wellness Center; Ami Goldstein, MSN, FNP, CNM, Clinical Instructor, Dept. of Family Medicine, UNC-CH; Kathy S. Higgins, CNM, MSN, Asst. Professor & Midwifery Division Director, UNC-CH Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology; William Goodnight, III, MD, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, UNC-CH; Kate Berrien, RN, BSN, MS, Nurse Consultant, UNC Center for Maternal & Infant Health
ANCC Contact Hours will be provided. Cost: $149 or $112 if requesting JMJ Scholarship Funds (Nurses Only)
Held at the The William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
This webinar will be to provide maternal/child nurses with basics for a productivity model in Labor and Delivery. The objectives will include how to determine the basic principles of productivity measurement, identify common challenges to Perinatal Productivity Measurement and management and describe the population based productivity model.
Thursday, February 25, 2010 12:00 - 1:00 PM EST Contact Hour: 1.0
"Many of you may have already read this article. Here at the Institute, we think it is an excellent article merging organizational change, patient safety, and patient- and family-centered care. What struck us was how well the definition of patient- and family-centered care was articulated. For all of you who have been working toward integrating patient- and family-centered care in your units, this article will not be “new” news to you but hopefully it will make you smile as it did me. And hopefully it will be a reference for you to hand out to anyone who may be skeptical."
A brief highlighting the link between prematurity and infant mortality and suggesting the high rate of prematurity in the U.S. largely explains the high rate of infant mortality in this country relative to other industrialized nations. Click here to read.
Beginning with April 1, 2010 discharges, a new set of “Perinatal Care” core measures will be added to the existing complement of measure sets from which hospitals may select to meet their ORYX core measure data reporting requirements. This new set will replace the “Pregnancy and Related Conditions” core measure set which is being retired effective March 31, 2010. As with the other core measure sets, the new Perinatal Care measures are available for hospitals in meeting their core measure reporting requirements, but The Joint Commission will not require data collection for that particular set of measures. The selection of measure sets remains at the discretion of the hospital based on patient populations served and services provided. The measure set includes: elective deliveries, Cesarean sections, antenatal steroids, health care–associated bloodstream infections in newborns, and exclusive breast milk feeding
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is pleased to announce that after many months of research and development, the IHI Improvement Map is ready for use. This is a free resource available to anyone, anywhere who wants to improve hospital care.
What Is the IHI Improvement Map? Building on the success of IHI’s 100,000 Lives and 5 Million Lives Campaigns, the IHI Improvement Map distills the best clinical and managerial knowledge available on the key processes that lead to exceptional hospital care for patients. It is an interactive, web-based tool that helps hospital leaders make sense of competing demands and requirements and develop a portfolio of projects to improve quality while lowering costs.
North Carolina will be implementing the revised “national” birth certificate beginning in early 2010. Here is a link to the new form. You will note at a glance that it is much more comprehensive and will encourage the collection of a more robust data set regarding NC births. As you might imagine, for the data to be useful, we must address, at each center where there is a delivery service, who collects the data and in what format to assure that the system authentically captures birth data critical in improving the care of mothers and babies.
“Some hospitals have really great programs, and in some, it’s really very sad,” said Liza Cooper, director of the March of Dimes NICU Family Support program, which offers psychological support to parents in 74 hospitals nationwide. Even though most units have social workers, she went on, “there’s really no one there to support the parents, provide group activities or education.”
....
“What the parent is going through is more or less dismissed because what you’re contending with are the health issues of your child,” she said. “Occasionally a social worker will say, ‘Are you taking care of yourself?’ but never, ‘This is a traumatic experience you endured and you need to pay attention to these symptoms.’ ”
Some hospitals pair parents of premature babies in intensive care with those who have been through the experience. One study found that 16 weeks after childbirth, mothers who were matched with NICU veterans had less anxiety and depression, and felt they had more social support, than mothers in a control group.
Location: Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia
Background: This Symposium will explore the present state of quality initiatives to prevent preterm birth and develop an agenda for action to decrease the rate of those preterm births that are not inevitable or medically necessary.
The Symposium will bring together a multidisciplinary group of health care practitioners, health insurers, policy makers, health purchasers, regulators and concerned citizens to discuss quality improvement as an essential component in the strategy to prevent prematurity, promote health and save costs. It will be a forum where experts and stakeholders can:
* Share ideas and challenges
* Describe model programs that have successfully improved the nature and quality of patient care and services targeted to prematurity prevention
* Recommend quality improvement action plans
In 2004, Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center initiated a Quality Improvement Project to reduce elective inductions. Dr. English will share details on the development of their baseline information on inductions, the process of educating the provider community and the leadership required to change the practice culture around this often too frequent intervention.
Date & Time
Date:
Thu, Aug 27, 2009
Time:
12:30 PM EDT
Duration:
1 hour 15 minutes
Host(s):
NPIC/QAS Membership Services
Presenter Information
Dennis H. English MD, MMM, FACOG
Dr. English is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Vice President of Medical Affairs at Magee-Womens Hospital. In this role Dr. English serves as the Medical Director for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety and Physician Advisor of the Health Management Department. Dr. English is also the Medical Director of Woman Care Associates a single specialty OB/GYN practice of thirty-eight providers. Dr. English’s clinical practice is limited to gynecology.
Dr. English received his MD degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He completed his Masters of Medical Management degree at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrician-Gynecologists and a diplomat of the American College of Physician Executives.
Aprill 22, 2009, 8:00 - 4:30, Durham Hilton, Durham NC
This 5.5 CE program will be led by Dr. Paula Meier, who is a pioneer in the area of research and practice for the use of human milk in the NICU. She will provide evidence about the impact of human milk feedings on the health outcomes and costs of care for premature and late preterm infants. Dr. Meier will focus on arming attendees with clinically proven, evidence based methods for successfully establishing human milk & breastfeeding programs that target these at-risk populations. Specific examples of complex human milk management strategies for these infants will be highlighted.
Childbirth Connection is seeking applicants to be considered for its inaugural Maternity Quality Matters Award recognizing innovation in maternity care service delivery, systems design and demonstrated quality improvement. This award is an important part of our national efforts to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy and policy.
If your organization or agency can demonstrate significant improvement in maternity care quality through strategies such as performance measurement, incorporation of evidence-based practice, and responsiveness to the needs of childbearing women and families, we urge you to submit an award application by January 9, 2009. Or, if you know of such an organization, please forward this email for their consideration. Eligible entities include professional organizations and associations, national and community health systems, hospitals and birth centers, public agencies, quality improvement organizations, and research or consulting organizations.
Submission Deadline: January 9, 2009.
Award Recipient Notification: February 8, 2009.
Award Presentation: April 3, 2009.
Click here for more information about the award, as well as the application. Contact Kat Song (katsong@childbirthconnection.org) with any questions about eligibility, application criteria or the review process.
