PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - J R Bowen AU - I Callander AU - R Richards AU - K B Lindrea TI - Decreasing infection in neonatal intensive care units through quality improvement AID - 10.1136/archdischild-2015-310165 DP - 2017 Jan 01 TA - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition PG - F51--F57 VI - 102 IP - 1 4099 - http://fn.bmj.com/content/102/1/F51.short 4100 - http://fn.bmj.com/content/102/1/F51.full SO - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed2017 Jan 01; 102 AB - Objective To decrease the incidence of bloodstream infection (BSI) for neonates <29 weeks gestation through quality improvement.Design Commencing in September 2011, eight neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, Australia participated in the Sepsis Prevention in NICUs Group project, a multicentre quality improvement initiative to reduce neonatal infection through implementation of potentially better practices and development of teaching resources. Data were collected for neonates <29 weeks gestation from D3 to 35, using point of care data entry, for BSI, central line-associated BSI (CLABSI) and antibiotic use. Exponentially weighted moving average data trend lines for rates of BSI, CLABSI and antibiotic use for each NICU were automatically generated and composite charts were provided each month to participating NICUs.Results Between January 2012 and December 2014, data were collected from D3 to 35 for 1075 neonates <29 weeks gestation who survived >48 h, for a total of 33 933 bed days and 14 447 central line days. There was a significant decrease from 2012 to 2014 in BSI/1000 bed days (7.8±3.0 vs 3.8±1.1, p=0.000), CLABSI/1000 bed days (4.6±2.1 vs 2.1±0.8, p=0.003), CLABSI/1000 central line days (9.9±4.3 vs 5.4±1.7, p=0.012) and antibiotic days/100 bed days (31.1±4.3 vs 25.5±4.2, p=0.046).Conclusions This study demonstrates a >50% reduction in BSI in extremely premature neonates from D3 to 35 following a collaborative quality improvement project to reduce neonatal infection across an NICU network, supported by timely provision of data.