Trigger Criteria to Increase Appropriate Palliative Care Consultation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Introduction: Pediatric palliative care (PPC) seeks longitudinal relationships with patients facing life-threatening conditions. The majority of pediatric deaths occur within the first year of life, especially neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); however, the consultation by PPC in the NICU is not routine. This project sought to improve the PPC's presence within 1 NICU for patients facing life-limiting conditions through quality improvement techniques.

Methods: A trigger list of severe, life-threatening conditions impacting neonates was created and implemented to increase PPC consultation within the NICU. Interventions to improve compliance with the trigger list included the collaborative creation of the trigger list, education, modification of PPC staff modeling, and expansion of the perinatal palliative care program.

Results: Over the 2 years that the project occurred, 31 prenatal and postnatal patients were eligible for PPC consultation based on the trigger list. Of these, 24 received PPC consultation. The primary outcome measure of the project was to increase PPC consultations for those NICU infants identified on a severe diagnosis "trigger" list from 25% to 80% and to maintain this increase for 6 months. This project achieved 100% compliance within 12 months.

Conclusions: Utilization of quality improvement methodology to address PPC underutilization within an NICU successfully led to the implementation of a trigger list for patients with severe diagnoses to receive PPC services. Such modeling could be used in other health systems to improve palliative care referrals.