Building Babies’ Brains: A Quality Improvement (QI) Collaborative to Inform Interventions that Increase Infant Holding in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Improve Neurodevelopmental Outcomes

Introduction: Holding infants in the NICU improves neurodevelopmental outcomes and increases maternal-infant bonding. However, the most effective interventions to increase the frequency of holding for neonates with pulmonary hypoplasia (PH) are unclear. The purpose of this project is to investigate barriers to holding in the NICU and obtain provider perspectives to inform interventions that will increase infant holding and ultimately improve neurodevelopmental outcomes. Methods: This single-institution QI project utilized surveys to investigate barriers to holding infants with pulmonary hypoplasia in the NICU. A patient-specific survey was administered in a two-week period to determine baseline rates of holding. Information on respiratory support was obtained from medical records. Bedside nurses provided information about whether or not a patient …