Quality Improvement Project: Implementing Guidelines Supporting Noninvasive Respiratory Management for Premature Infants

Purpose: Based on research evidence, the purpose was to implement noninvasive approaches in the initial respiratory stabilization of preterm infants.

Design: Quality improvement project.

Sample: one hundred fourteen infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care nursery (nicn) from January 1, 2012 to may 31, 2012 served as a historical control group. ninety-four infants admitted from January 1, 2013 to may 31, 2013 served as the intervention group.

Results: after implementation of the quality improvement initiative, there was a statistically significant increase in the rate of using continuous positive airway pressure (cpap) by 65.3 percent for initial respiratory stabilization of preterm infants.