Using the Expertise of a Clinical Nurse Specialist to Lead a Neonatal Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Team to Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection Reduction and Cost-Efficiency Through Quality Improvement.

Objective: This quality improvement project aimed to reduce central line bacteremias (central line-associated bloodstream infections [CLABSIs]) in a neonatal ICU (NICU) to a CLABSI rate of zero using a clinical nurse specialist (CNS)-led neonatal peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) team.

Background: The NICU at the study site was experiencing more than twice the National Healthcare Safety Network average CLABSI rate at 2.2 per 1000 line-days with an estimated cost of $2 072 806 to the organization.

Perinatal clinical antecedents of white matter microstructural abnormalities on diffusion tensor imaging in extremely preterm infants.

Objective: To identify perinatal clinical antecedents of white matter microstructural abnormalities in extremely preterm infants.

Methods: A prospective cohort of extremely preterm infants (N = 86) and healthy term controls (N = 16) underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) at term equivalent age. Region of interest-based measures of white matter microstructure - fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity - were quantified in seven vulnerable cerebral regions and group differences assessed.