First name
DeWayne
Middle name
M
Last name
Pursley

Title

Antiracism in the Field of Neonatology: A Foundation and Concrete Approaches.

Year of Publication

2022

Number of Pages

e1-e12

Date Published

2022 Jan 01

ISSN Number

1526-9906

Abstract

<p>Neonatal patients and families from historically marginalized and discriminated communities have long been documented to have differential access to health care, disparate health care, and as a result, inequitable health outcomes. Fundamental to these processes is an understanding of what race and ethnicity represent for patients and how different levels of racism act as social determinants of health. The NICU presents a unique opportunity to intervene with regard to the detrimental ways in which structural, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism affect the health of newborn infants. The aim of this article is to provide neonatal clinicians with a foundational understanding of race, racism, and antiracism within medicine, as well as concrete ways in which health care professionals in the field of neonatology can contribute to antiracism and health equity in their professional careers.</p>

DOI

10.1542/neo.23-1-e1

Alternate Title

Neoreviews

PMID

34970665

Title

Glucose concentrations in enterally fed preterm infants.

Year of Publication

2020

Date Published

2020 Aug 05

ISSN Number

1476-5543

Abstract

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>Determine the prevalence of glucose concentrations below the Pediatric Endocrine Society (PES) term and late preterm-focused guideline target for mean glucose concentrations (≥70 mg/dL) among preterm NICU infants on full enteral nutrition and assess the impact on monitoring practices.</p>

<p><strong>STUDY DESIGN: </strong>Retrospective cohort study.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>We analyzed 1717 infants who were at least 2 days old and 48 hours after parenteral fluids were discontinued. Glucose concentrations were ≥70, 60-69, 50-59, and &lt;50 mg/dL in 76.6, 16.2, 5.9, and 1.3% of measurements, respectively. In multivariate models, concentrations &lt;60 mg/dL were common among male infants at lower postnatal age, small-for-gestational age, and born to women with hypertension (p &lt; 0.05). After PES guideline, infants were more likely to have &gt;3 glucose measurements (p &lt; 0.05).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Glucose concentrations &lt;70 mg/dL are not uncommon among preterm infants receiving full enteral nutrition. Monitoring increased after guideline publication. Applying PES threshold to well-appearing preterm infants may promote increased monitoring and intervention without clear long-term benefit.</p>

DOI

10.1038/s41372-020-0754-6

Alternate Title

J Perinatol

PMID

32759957

Title

A Collaborative Multicenter QI Initiative To Improve Antibiotic Stewardship in Newborns.

Year of Publication

2019

Date Published

2019 Nov 01

ISSN Number

1098-4275

Abstract

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>To determine if NICU teams participating in a multicenter quality improvement (QI) collaborative achieve increased compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) core elements for antibiotic stewardship and demonstrate reductions in antibiotic use (AU) among newborns.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>From January 2016 to December 2017, multidisciplinary teams from 146 NICUs participated in Choosing Antibiotics Wisely, an Internet-based national QI collaborative conducted by the Vermont Oxford Network consisting of interactive Web sessions, a series of 4 point-prevalence audits, and expert coaching designed to help teams test and implement the CDC core elements of antibiotic stewardship. The audits assessed unit-level adherence to the CDC core elements and collected patient-level data about AU. The AU rate was defined as the percentage of infants in the NICU receiving 1 or more antibiotics on the day of the audit.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>The percentage of NICUs implementing the CDC core elements increased in each of the 7 domains (leadership: 15.4%-68.8%; accountability: 54.5%-95%; drug expertise: 61.5%-85.1%; actions: 21.7%-72.3%; tracking: 14.7%-78%; reporting: 6.3%-17.7%; education: 32.9%-87.2%; &lt; .005 for all measures). The median AU rate decreased from 16.7% to 12.1% ( for trend &lt; .0013), a 34% relative risk reduction.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>NICU teams participating in this QI collaborative increased adherence to the CDC core elements of antibiotic stewardship and achieved significant reductions in AU.</p>

DOI

10.1542/peds.2019-0589

Alternate Title

Pediatrics

PMID

31676682

Title

NICU Admissions After a Policy to Eliminate Elective Early Term Deliveries Before 39 Weeks' Gestation.

Year of Publication

2018

Number of Pages

686-692

Date Published

2018 Nov

ISSN Number

2154-1663

Abstract

<p><strong>BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: </strong>Early term infants (37-&lt;39 weeks' gestation) are at higher risk of adverse outcomes than term infants (39-&lt;41 weeks' gestation). We hypothesized that a policy to eliminate elective, early term deliveries would result in fewer NICU admissions and shorter lengths of stay among infants born ≥37 weeks.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>This was a retrospective cohort study of singleton infants born ≥37 weeks at a tertiary medical center from 2004 to 2015 (preperiod: 2004-2008; postperiod: 2010-2015; washout period: 2009). We compared the incidence of early term delivery, NICU admissions (short: ≥4-&lt;24 hours, long: ≥24 hours), NICU diagnoses, and stillbirths in both periods. We used modified Poisson regression to calculate adjusted risk ratios.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>There were 20 708 and 24 897 singleton infants born ≥37 weeks in the pre- and postperiod, respectively. The proportion of early term infants decreased from 32.5% to 25.7% ( &lt; .0001). NICU admissions decreased nonsignificantly (9.2% to 8.8%; = .22), with a significant reduction in short NICU stays (5.4% to 4.6%; adjusted risk ratio: 0.85 [95% confidence interval: 0.79-0.93]). Long NICU stays increased slightly (3.8% to 4.2%), a result that was nullified by adjusting for neonatal hypoglycemia. A nonsignificant increase in the incidence of stillbirths ≥37 to &lt;40 weeks was present in the postperiod (7.5 to 10 per 10 000 births; = .46).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Reducing early term deliveries was associated with fewer short NICU stays, suggesting that efforts to discourage early term deliveries in uncomplicated pregnancies may minimize mother-infant separation in the newborn period.</p>

DOI

10.1542/hpeds.2018-0068

Alternate Title

Hosp Pediatr

PMID

30361206

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