The Canadian Neonatal Network conducted a trial of Evidence-Based Practice for Improving Quality (EPIQ) between 2002 and 2005. Improved neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) outcomes established credibility for quality improvement. We surveyed team members and physician leaders to examine critical success factors and barriers to improvement during EPIQ. Respondents agreed that EPIQ had a high uti...

V entilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) continues to be a disturbing problem in the care of intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Although much progress has been achieved in the past two decades, many issues remain unresolved, and mortality still reaches 30–40% [1, 2]. In this issue of the European Respiratory Journal, two contributions are devoted to VAP. Although quite divergent in scope, they a...

INTRODUCTION The measurement of quality and patient safety continues to gain increasing importance, as these measures are used for both healthcare improvement and accountability. Pediatric care, particularly that provided in pediatric intensive care units, is sufficiently different from adult care that specific metrics are required. BODY: Pediatric critical care requires specific measures for b...

OBJECTIVE To explore mothers' perceptions of family centred care (FCC) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in England. DESIGN The qualitative experiences of 12 mothers from three NICUs in the UK were elicited using individual interviews. A thematic network analysis was conducted on the transcribed interviews MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES A central global theme supported by a number of organizi...

Infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) face many challenges to their health and survival. The combination of stress, pain, isolation from parents, aversive stimuli and multiple caregivers in the NICU can intensify their challenges. To address from a music therapy perspective some of the negative effects of the NICU on premature infants, I conducted a pilot study at MCP Hahnemann Hos...

The development of 43 infants born at full term, who were admitted to neonatal intensive care units shortly after birth, was compared in a prospective longitudinal study with that of a group of 29 healthy newborn babies. Thirty infants required emergency operations during the neonatal period, and 13 were admitted for medical reasons. The effects of being in hospital and being separated from the...

A cluster of 4 cases of meningitis due to Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var anitratus occurred during a 5-day period in a neonatal intensive care unit. Three of the infants were preterm and all had a history of other medical problems. Initiation of intravenous therapy with carbenicillin was accompanied by clinical recovery and a bacteriological cure. Intensive bacteriological investigation failed...

BACKGROUND To promote participation by parents in the care of their child in neonatal intensive care units (NICU), health professionals need better understanding of what facilitates and what obstructs participation. The aim was to elucidate conditions for parents' participation in the care of their child in NICUs. METHODS A field study with a hermeneutic lifeworld approach was used and data w...

Components of stress for 22 paediatric consultants and 29 nursing sisters working in neonatal intensive care units were studied. Ten situations were rated for their intensity of stress and their frequency of occurrence. For intensity of stress, significantly more paediatric consultants rated the competing demands of personal life versus work as highly stressful, than did nursing sisters. For fr...