Deimplementation of Polycythemia Screening in Asymptomatic Infants in a Level 1 Nursery

Polycythemia (venous hematocrit >65%) is rare in healthy newborns (incidence: 0.4%-5%), with serious outcomes (stroke, bowel ischemia) of unknown incidence in asymptomatic infants. No national guidelines address screening or management of asymptomatic infants with polycythemia. Our nursery screened "high risk" (HR) newborns (small for gestational age, large for gestational age, twin, infant of diabetic mother) with poor adherence and low yield. We aimed to decrease polycythemia screening of asymptomatic HR infants by 80% within 6 months.

We conducted an improvement project at a tertiary children's hospital using the Model for Improvement. Eligible infants had an HR ICD-10 code on their problem list, were asymptomatic, over 35 weeks gestational age, and remained in the nursery for >6 hrs. Interventions included discontinuation of prior protocol, education for staff, bimonthly feedback on project performance, and visual reminders. Our primary outcome measure was the proportion of asymptomatic infants who received a hematocrit screen. Secondary measures were screening costs. Balancing measures were the length of stay, detected/symptomatic polycythemia, transfers to ICU/wards, and readmissions within 1 week of discharge.

The Nursery unit screened 80% of HR infants at baseline. This decreased to 7.3% after PDSA1, 0% after PDSA2, and 1% after PDSA3. There was no symptomatic polycythemia or statistically significant increase in readmissions/transfers. One month of monitoring revealed persistent changes.

Simple quality improvement interventions such as education, reminders, and feedback can facilitate the deimplementation of low-value practices.