A Longstanding Tradition of Quality
For decades, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital has helped raise the standard of care for newborns. We have a longstanding tradition of quality improvement efforts, leading the way with family-centered care and innovative newborn treatments. Our specialists have written the textbooks that teach tomorrow’s neonatologists.
Among the Highest NICU Survival Rates in the Nation
Overall, ninety-six percent of our NICU patients babies survive. But our focus isn’t just on survival. We push to improve the quality and standard of care so a newborn’s long-term outcomes and quality of life are the best possible. UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital also has among the highest NICU survival rates in the nation for low birth weight newborns weighing as little as 500 grams or less–about one pound.
National Leaders in Quality Improvement for Newborn Care
Our team at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s is continuously working to improve newborn care. Our specialists and staff participate and lead many national, state and local quality improvement projects, in addition to our own ongoing studies and neonatal research. Our goal is always to improve not just a newborn’s chances for survival but the best quality of life possible.
We’re involved in a nationwide initiative to reduce the number of central line-associated bloodstream infections–which some babies in the NICU are at risk for developing. Through this quality improvement initiative, we’ve been able to reduce our central line infection rate far below the national average.
State of Ohio Designates Neonatal Leadership for Opioid Exposure Treatment
At the state level, our newborn and obstetrics specialists are part of the Ohio Children’s Hospital Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Consortium.This collaboration has helped define care standards for babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)–a group of problems newborns experience when withdrawing from exposure to opioids in the mother’s womb. It has also reduced the amount of time these babies need to stay in the NICU and how long they need medication to recover.
Innovations in Neonatal Care Improve Quality Outcomes
As part of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development Neonatal Research Network, our newborn specialists are helping to pioneer the use of innovative treatments. Our cooling therapy treats encephalopathy in newborns, which helps more babies survive with a higher quality of life.
Other innovations continue to help improve quality at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s. Our team invented the world’s first surgical bed for newborns, called the Rainbow Flex. Offering the best surgical and healing environment for newborns, caregivers have greater control over the baby’s position, with access from all sides during surgery, while keeping the infant warm with less disruption.