scholarly journals Developing a practical methodology to improve the health-care services: studying a neonatal intensive care unit case in Oman

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasr Al-Hinai ◽  
Ahm Shamsuzzoha
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Time Motion

PurposeThis study aims to develop a practical methodology to identify possible areas of improvements as well as exploring how to improve the health-care staff flow within a selected department in a hospital.Design/methodology/approachIt focuses on showing how to properly study and analyze the health-care services and processes practiced at a selected department within a hospital. For this, several techniques like non-value-adding activities, time motion study, spaghetti diagram, layout analysis, etc. are used.FindingsTo test the proposed methodology, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a hospital in Oman was considered as a case study. The study revealed that this unit has several potential improvements capabilities. Further, this study also discussed possible areas of improvements of this case unit and suggested how such improvements can be implemented.Originality/valueSeveral possible improvements are suggested and are discussed with the hospital authority, which can be clarified as the re-layout of the NICU rooms, reorganization of the store to improve the staff flow, increase the work efficiency, introduction of Help Us Support Healing policy, etc., which can enhance the entire operational system at the studied NICU.

Transition from an Open Bay to a Private Room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Design — A Human Factors Evaluation

2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 974-978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Smith ◽  
Sandra Clayton ◽  
Kathleen Schoenbeck
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Patient Care Team ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Care Technology

This report summarizes findings from a human factors evaluation of a change in the design of a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) from an open bay (OBNICU) to a private room (PRNICU) patient care environment. The objective was to compare and contrast effects of this design change on the perceptions and performance of NICU patient care staff. Results indicate that, relative to work on the OBNICU, staff perceived that work on the PRNICU resulted in notable improvements in the quality of physical environmental conditions, their jobs, patient care and patient safety, interaction with parents of NICU patients, interaction with patient care technology and their life off-the-job. In contrast, staff perceived that the quality of interaction among different members of the NICU patient care team worsened substantially after the move to the PRNICU. The latter finding prompted the recommendation that a virtual open bay environment be implemented in the PRNICU.

An In-Service Educational Package Improves Alarm Management in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU): Before and After Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 097321792110512
Author(s):  
Suryaprakash Hedda ◽  
Shashidhar A. ◽  
Saudamini Nesargi ◽  
Kalyan Chakravarthy Balla ◽  
Prashantha Y. N. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Alarm Management ◽  
Educational Package ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Before And After Study

Background: Monitoring in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) largely relies on equipment which have a number of alarms that are often quite loud. This creates a noisy environment, and moreover leads to desensitization of health-care personnel, whereby potentially important alarms may also be ignored. The objective was to evaluate the effect of an educational package on alarm management (the number of alarms, response to alarms, and appropriateness of settings). Methods: A before and after study was conducted at a tertiary neonatal care center in a teaching hospital in India involving all health-care professionals (HCP) working in the high dependency unit. The intervention consisted of demo lectures about working of alarms and bedside demonstrations of customizing alarm limits. A pre- and postintervention questionnaire was also administered to assess knowledge and attitude toward alarms. The outcomes were the number and type of alarms, response time, appropriateness of HCP response, and appropriateness of alarm limits as observed across a 24-h period which were compared before and after the intervention. Findings: The intervention resulted in a significant decrease in the number of alarms (11.6-9.6/h). The number of times where appropriate alarm settings were used improved from 24.3% to 67.1% ( P < .001). The response time to alarm did not change significantly (225 s vs 200 s); however, the appropriate response to alarms improved significantly from 15.6% to 68.8%. Conclusion: A simple structured intervention can improve the appropriate management of alarms. Application to Practice: Customizing alarm limits and nursing education reduce the alarm burden in NICUs

Health care–associated outbreak of Salmonella Tennessee in a neonatal intensive care unit

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tegan K. Boehmer ◽  
Wendy M. Bamberg ◽  
Tista S. Ghosh ◽  
Alicia Cronquist ◽  
Marie E. Fornof ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care

Mothers’ Stories about Their Experiences in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Holditch-Davis ◽  
Margaret Shandor Miles
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Family Factors ◽  
Parental Role ◽  
Parental Distress ◽  
Care Providers

The purpose of this article is to let mothers tell the stories of their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) experiences and to determine how well these experiences fit the Preterm Parental Distress Model. Interviews were conducted with 31 mothers when their infants were six months of age corrected for prematurity and were analyzed using the conceptual model as a framework. The analysis verified the presence in the data of the six major sources of stress indicated in the Preterm Parental Distress Model: (1) pre-existing and concurrent personal and family factors, (2) prenatal and perinatal experiences, (3) infant illness, treatments, and appearance in the NICU, (4) concerns about the infant’s outcomes, (5) loss of the parental role, and (6) health care providers. The study indicates that health care providers, and especially nurses, can have a major role in reducing parental distress by maintaining ongoing communication with parents and providing competent care for their infants.

scholarly journals Risk Factors for Health Care-Associated Bloodstream Infections in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

2016 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabahattin Ertugrul ◽  
Fesih Aktar ◽  
Ilyas Yolbas ◽  
Ahmet Yilmaz ◽  
Bilal Elbey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Bloodstream Infections

scholarly journals Examining the Relationship between Cost and Quality of Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Beyond

Children ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 238
Author(s):  
Lauren Culbertson ◽  
Dmitry Dukhovny ◽  
Wannasiri Lapcharoensap
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Patient Outcomes ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Relationship

There is tremendous variation in costs of delivering health care, whether by country, hospital, or patient. However, the questions remain: what costs are reasonable? How does spending affect patient outcomes? We look to explore the relationship between cost and quality of care in adult, pediatric and neonatal literature. Health care stewardship initiatives attempt to address the issue of lowering costs while maintaining the same quality of care; but how do we define and deliver high value care to our patients? Ultimately, these questions remain challenging to tackle due to the heterogeneous definitions of cost and quality. Further standardization of these terms, as well as studying the variations of both costs and quality, may benefit future research on value in health care.

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