Insights

The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is a fundamental tool in the quality improvement tool belt. PDSA cycles are used to test, implement and spread change ideas in a systematic way. Discover five tips for testing to optimize your next PDSA cycle.

The benefits of breastfeeding are well known, and supported by the World Health Organization, the Joint Commission, and many other healthcare accreditation and oversight agencies and experts. However, many hospitals struggle to create environments that support mothers who choose to breastfeed.

Safe sleep messages are often contradicted in advertising. This culture of mixed messages not only confuses parents, according to a recent study from the American Academy of Pediatrics, but it also makes clinician’s work on safe sleep practices more challenging.

NICHQ is working to develop systems around vision and eye health for children ages 5 years old and younger. Currently, child vision assessments happen in many different settings—primary care offices, schools, public health clinics, community events. While exposure to assessments is a good start, each setting has its own standards, approaches and tools. This can result in different assessment outcomes.

Leadership support is a necessary foundation to any change effort. Without it, change agents find it nearly impossible to get the required resources and attention needed to move forward. How do you get that critical support? Read on to find out.

The growing demand for maternal and child health services and support, coupled with stagnant or shrinking resources, is causing state health departments to find creative ways to do more with less. Many states are leveraging home visiting programs as a convenient way to spread important information and strategies related to safe sleep practices, a key component of infant mortality reduction efforts.

Turns out, size may not matter. Small rural hospitals in New York State are experiencing as much, if not more, success in implementing evidenced-based practices to improve maternity care practices as their bigger suburban and urban counterparts.

Evaluation data provides a window into whether, why and how programs achieve their goals. Evaluation is also essential to ensure that limited resources are utilized most efficiently for the greatest possible impact.

When a patient recently delivered her second baby at Harris Health System’s Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) Hospital in Houston, she was surrounded by a team dedicated to supporting her decision to breastfeed. The support, which began in the delivery room and continued after she returned home, made a difference.

In this new video, hear Infant Mortality CoIIN participants share how the initiaitive's unique approach is having a profound impact on how they are working in their states to help more children reach their first birthdays and beyond.

Native Americans have rich traditions and beliefs that often conflict with Western healthcare culture. To address disparities in infant health in this vulnerable population, experts say public health and healthcare workers need to build relationships first, then offer advice second.

Having a neonatologist as a quality improvement team leader helped foster change more quickly in five key areas: building consensus, becoming a convener, educating peer-to-peer, reassuring patients and making the process transparent.