Subject Matter Expert Nurses in Safe Sleep Program Implementation.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Public Health
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Pennsylvania faces high rates of sudden unexpected infant death.
• An evidence-based quality improvement (QI) program was developed to address this critical issue.
• Clinical nurses were trained as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to drive and sustain QI for infant safe sleep.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of training nurses as SMEs for implementing an infant safe sleep QI program.
• To assess the impact of the SME role on nursing practice and patient outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive study involving 268 nurses educated as SMEs on infant safe sleep.
• Surveys measured knowledge gain and practice changes using Likert scales.
• Program implementation was tracked via a dashboard; descriptive statistics analyzed outcomes.

Main Results:

• Over 98% of nurses demonstrated proficiency in communication, role understanding, surveillance, and safe sleep practices post-education.
• Follow-up surveys at 6 months showed 78 respondents reporting substantial progress in 10 key SME responsibilities.
• The SME model proved effective in empowering nurses for QI initiatives.

Conclusions:

• The Subject Matter Expert (SME) role is a highly effective strategy for implementing hospital-based QI programs.
• Empowering nurses as SMEs leads to positive outcomes in infant safe sleep initiatives.
• This approach facilitates the transformation and sustainability of evidence-based nursing practices.