Interdisciplinary Quality Improvement Project Increases Vitamin D Supplementation in Infants

American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines recommend 400 IU of vitamin D supplementation daily for certain infants <1 year of age. We aimed to increase the proportion of reported appropriate vitamin D supplementation for infants born at our institution and those who followed up in our resident clinic through 6 months from 49% to 80% over 24 months.

Our interdisciplinary quality improvement effort included vitamin D medication delivery before nursery discharge and family and staff education. The process measure was the percentage of families discharged from birth hospitalization with vitamin D and teaching. The outcome measure was the percentage of families reporting appropriate vitamin D supplementation at 2-, 4-, and 6-month well child visits. The balancing measure was the percentage of infants discharged from the nursery by 2 pm. Data were displayed on Statistical Process Control p charts and established rules for detecting special causes were applied.

Baseline and improvement data were collected for 587 hospital discharges and 220 outpatient encounters. The percentage of families discharged with vitamin D increased from 24.8% to 98% from 2016 to 2018. Percent of families reporting appropriate vitamin D supplementation at well child visits increased from 49% to 89% from 2016 to 2018. Overall, the percentage of discharges by 2 pm remained stable at 60%.

Bedside medication delivery and education in the newborn nursery improved reported vitamin D supplementation rates in the first 6 months of life. The intervention did not delay newborn hospital discharge.