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Published on: December 31, 2015
Development of a quality improvement package for reducing sight-threatening retinopathy of prematurity
Praveen Kumar1, Deepak Chawla2, Anu Thukral3
1Neonatal Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
Insights
Improving neonatal care for preterm infants can reduce blindness from retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). A targeted educational package combined with quality improvement initiatives effectively enhanced care and infant outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Medicine
- Public Health
- Medical Education
Background:
- Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a growing cause of childhood blindness in preterm infants.
- Improving the quality of neonatal care is crucial for reducing sight-threatening ROP.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a need-based intervention package to enhance care for preterm neonates.
- To assess the effectiveness of this package combined with point-of-care quality improvement (POCQI) in preventing sight-threatening ROP.
Main Methods:
- A before-and-after study design was employed in four special care neonatal units (SCNU) in Madhya Pradesh, India.
- A formative component assessed baseline knowledge, skills, practices, and attitudes of healthcare staff.
- A theory of change guided the development of needs assessment tools and an educational package.
Main Results:
- An educational package was developed, incorporating a theory of change and addressing identified staff needs.
- The package was tested alongside POCQI projects driven by local healthcare teams.
- Individual-level data on neonates were collected to evaluate intervention effectiveness.
Conclusions:
- A multidimensional educational package, integrated with context-specific quality improvement (QI) initiatives, was successfully developed and evaluated.
- The intervention aimed to improve preterm infant survival without sight-threatening ROP.
Purpose:
With improving survival of preterm neonates, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is emerging as a major cause of childhood blindness. Incidence of sight-threatening ROP can be reduced by improving the quality of care provided to preterm neonates.
Methods:
This before-and-after study was designed to develop a need-based intervention package to improve knowledge, skills, and practices of those providing care for preterm neonates, and to evaluate the effectiveness of this package when combined with point-of-care quality improvement (POCQI) in improving survival of preterm neonates without sight-threatening ROP. The study had a formative component to assess baseline knowledge, skills, practices and attitudes, and to assess the needs of the healthcare staff to improve the care of preterm neonates. It was conducted in four special care neonatal units (SCNU) in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India.
Results:
A theory of change was developed to guide the development of study tools including needs assessment and educational package development. The educational package thus developed has been tested at the study sites in combination with POCQI projects driven by local teams of healthcare providers. The effectiveness of the interventions has been evaluated by collection of individual-level data on neonates admitted at the study sites.
Conclusion:
A multidimensional educational package integrated with system changes in the form of quality improvement (QI) endeavours driven by local context and needs were developed and evaluated in the project.
