A structured collaborative project can be more effective than individual quality improvement efforts at reducing length of stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, according to a study published in Pediatrics.
Researchers followed three groups of NICUs in the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative:
• The first group included 20 centers participating in an 18-month collaborative quality improvement project to optimize LOS for preterm infants.
• The second group included 19 individual centers aiming to optimize LOS.
• The third group included 71 controls.
From 2013 to 2015, NICUs in all three groups cared for 8,917 infants.
The study shows the postmenstrual age at discharge for infants decreased from 37.8 to 37.5 weeks and early discharge increased from 31.6 percent to 41.9 percent for the NICUs in the collaborative project. Researchers defined early discharge as the proportion of infants discharged from the hospital before 36 weeks plus 5 weeks' postmenstrual age.
NICUs in the individual project group showed no significant change in postmenstrual age at discharge or early discharge. NICUs in the third group experienced a decrease in postmenstrual age at discharge, but no major change in early discharge.