#386 - 🟢 HOT TOPICS 2025 COVERAGE - The work of quality improvement in the NICU

Dr. Kavya Rao from University of Buffalo discusses quality improvement initiatives following completion of her master's in QI. Her team successfully implemented antibiotic stewardship by safely discontinuing antibiotics at 24 hours for early onset sepsis in clinically well infants with negative blood cultures, initially studying all gestational ages with plans for subset analysis. Additional projects include reducing PRBC and platelet transfusions using lower thresholds based on updated guidelines. Rao emphasizes finding QI topics through clinical passion and data-driven identification of performance gaps, using benchmarking with Vermont Oxford Network data. She co-mentors fellows in QI with Dr. Valerie Albertson and expresses enthusiasm for the Tiny Baby Collaborative, recognizing 22-weekers require distinct physiologic approaches.