G26(P) To reduce the incidence of hypothermia to 32 weeks. over period of 6 months. Through QI approaches

QI team realized that more than 85% of the newborns admitted to the NICU were found to be hypothermic at time of admission who were of more than 32 weeks of gestational age delivered by Cesarean section. PDSA 1: Switching on the baby warmer half an hour before delivery in OT. PDSA 2: Avoid checking weight in operation theatre PDSA 3: Repair of baby warmer in OT: In March 2017 the team analyzed the situation again found 8 babies with hypothermia. The baby warmer was repaired with the help of biomedical department the same day and Night OT staff and Doctors were educated about the policy. PDSA 4: New phase change material purchased for nest baby transporter: The team also found that phase change material of the transporter had expired a new phase change material was purchased with the help of administration Results The QI team successfully reduced the incidence of hypothermia at the time of admission to NICU. Testing and adopting these four changes on small samples of deliveries the team has reduced the incidence of hypothermia at NICU admission to Conclusions It is evident that hypothermia is an independent risk factor associated with increased incidence of morbidity and mortality in neonates. There was a significant improvement in admission temperatures after QI project which persisted beyond the implementation period.