INTRODUCTION Seizures are frequent in the neonatal period. They can be idiopathic, be caused by organic brain anomalies or by metabolic disturbances. OBJECTIVE Evaluation of the etiologic diagnosis and clinical evolution of the newborns with neonatal seizures admitted at one tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. MATERIAL AND METHODS Retrospective review of the clinical files of the newborn...

BACKGROUND Neonatal intensive care unit admission rates are an important birth outcome indicator for Medicaid managed care organizations. OBJECTIVES To reduce neonatal intensive care unit admission rates by at least 15% and to maintain that reduction through implementation of a quality improvement program. STUDY DESIGN The organization performed a longitudinal population-based review of its...

1 Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium 2Department of Surgery, Section of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Puericulture Institute and Neonatal Section, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy 3 Departments of Pediatrics, Pharmacology, Physiology, and Integrative Systems Biology, Geor...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Treatment of suspected infection is a mainstay of the daily work in the NICU. We hypothesized that NICU antibiotic prescribing practice variation correlates with rates of proven infection, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), mortality, inborn admission, and with NICU surgical volume and average length of stay. METHODS In a retrospective cohort study of 52,061 infants in...

Severe infections represent the main cause of neonatal mortality accounting for more than one million neonatal deaths worldwide every year. Antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed medications in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and in industrialized countries about 1% of neonates are exposed to antibiotic therapy. Sepsis has often nonspecific signs and symptoms and empiric antimicrobi...

OBJECTIVE The Vermont Oxford Network (VON) CARE Group was formed in response to the need to create organizational cultures supportive of change and quality improvement. METHODS The CARE Group consisted of team members from 4 participating neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). All CARE Group members chose to work on multidisciplinary teamwork for the duration of the Neonatal Intensive Care Qu...

Mortality rates of very small babies (those weighing 1500 g or less) born to mothers normally resident in the 11 health districts of the London portion of the North-east Thames Health Region in 1971-73 and 1975-77 were compared with admission rates to neonatal intensive care units in 1972 and 1976 in the region. There was no significant correlation between mortality and admission rates for babi...

Background: All nursing cares require decision-making, and the ability to make the best decisions impact upon the quality of nursing care. Moreover, authenticity and accuracy of the best cares may be questioned if not recorded and reported properly and in a standard manner. We aimed to design and implement an electronic nursing managementsystem and then evaluate satisfaction of nurses with the ...

Background: Most of the nurses have accepted family-centered care (FCC) as a standard model of care; however, they meet difficulties using this model. The aim of this study was to explore the perception of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses about the implementation of FCC.Methods: This qualitative study was carried out on 11 in-service NICU nurses with at least three years of work exper...