A quality improvement initiative to reduce excess inhaled therapy use in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Objective: Inhaled medications are commonly used at our single-center, Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). We lacked a standardized process for measuring efficacy of these medications to guide optimal duration of use, potentially leading to their overuse.

Methods: We utilized quality improvement methodology to reduce the length of inhaled hypertonic saline (HTS) course durations and high frequency albuterol use.

Association between initial ventilation mode and hospital outcomes for severe congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Objective: To determine the association between initial delivery room (DR) ventilator (conventional mechanical ventilation [CMV] versus high frequency oscillatory ventilation [HFOV] and hospital outcomes for infants with severe congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).

Study Design: Quasi-experimental design before/after introducing a clinical protocol promoting HFOV. The primary outcome was first blood gas parameters.

Respiratory function after birth in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Objective: To characterise the transitional pulmonary physiology of infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) using measures of expiratory tidal volume (TV) and end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO).

Design: Prospective single-centre observational study.

Setting: Quaternary neonatal intensive care unit.

Reducing Severe Tracheal Intubation Events Through an Individualized Airway Bundle.

Background: Neonatal tracheal intubation (TI) is a high-risk procedure associated with adverse safety events. In our newborn and infant ICU, we measure adverse tracheal intubation-associated events (TIAEs) as part of our participation in National Emergency Airway Registry for Neonates, a neonatal airway registry. We aimed to decrease overall TIAEs by 10% in 12 months.