Established Evidence Results

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HEALTH_CARE_PROVIDER_PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, HOSPITAL, Quality Improvement, Visual Display (Hospital)

Intervention Description: The purpose of this study was to improve safe sleep practice (SSP) adherence by healthcare providers working with infants admitted to an inpatient pediatric unit in an urban academic center, specifically increasing compliance on five core SSP (supine, alone in the crib, no objects in crib, appropriate bundling, and flat crib). Targeted pediatric hospitalists (attending physicians who exclusively work in the hospital setting), residents, and nurses working on the general pediatric wards were invited to complete a safe sleep survey prior to receiving a brief educational intervention tailored to their specific provider group. All participants received the same basic information on the current rates of SIDS, associated disparities, current hospital practices, AAP-endorsed safe sleep practices, and the impact of healthcare provider practices on caregivers. In-person presentations, handouts, posters, and “Ask me about safe sleep” buttons for nursing staff were among the teaching tools used. Efficacy of the intervention was assessed by comparing audits of sleeping infants in hospital rooms prior to (baseline) and following (post-intervention) the education sessions.

Intervention Results: This Quality Improvement project evaluated a staff education intervention using a pre- and post-design. Surveys of providers determined baseline SSP knowledge. Adherence to SSP in the hospital was audited before and after education. One hundred pre-intervention infant sleep placement observations were recorded and 123 were collected post-intervention.

Conclusion: This quality improvement project suggests that the inpatient setting provides opportunities for providers to demonstrate SSP but that healthcare providers often do not follow SSP in practice. Continued education can lead to improvements in SSP adherence ensuring that hospitals are modeling SSP for the families of infants.

Setting: The University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital

Population of Focus: Pediatric healthcare providers

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): PROVIDER/PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, HOSPITAL, Quality Improvement, Policy/Guideline (Hospital), Crib Card, Sleep Environment Modification, Promotional Event, POPULATION-BASED SYSTEMS, COMMUNITY, Social Media, CAREGIVER, Education/Training (caregiver), Educational Material (caregiver), Visual Display (Community)

Intervention Description: To improve sleep environment safety for inpatient infants.

Intervention Results: The proportion of infant cribs without loose objects in them increased (32-72%, p = .025), and safe sleep positioning remained stable (82% vs. 95%, p = .183).

Conclusion: Staff education, swaddle sleep sacks, and bedside storage containers were associated with improved sleep safety among pediatric inpatients at our institution and may help at other institutions.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: University of Iowa Children’s Hospital

Population of Focus: Infants less than 1 year of age developmentally ready for a crib and asleep

Data Source: Crib audit/infant observation

Sample Size: Baseline (n=22) Follow-up 1 (not reported) Follow-up 2 (n=37) Follow-up 3 (n=18)

Age Range: Not specified

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): PROVIDER/PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, HOSPITAL, Crib Card, Visual Display (Hospital), CAREGIVER, Education/Training (caregiver)

Intervention Description: To increase the percentage of eligible infants engaging in safe sleep practices (SSP) in two level III neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in the Boston, Massachusetts area.

Intervention Results: Of 755 cases, 395 (52.3%) were assessed to be eligible for SSP. From the pre- to post-intervention period, there was a significant improvement in overall compliance with SSP (25.9 to 79.7%; P-value<0.001). Adherence to each component of SSP also improved significantly following the intervention.

Conclusion: Safe infant sleep practices can be integrated into the routine care of preterm infants in the NICU. Modeling SSP to families far in advance of hospital discharge may improve adherence to SSP at home and reduce the risk of sleep-related morbidity and mortality in this vulnerable population of infants.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: Two level III NICUs at South Shore Hospital and St Elizabeth’s Medical Center in MA

Population of Focus: Infants eligible for safe sleep practices as determined by an algorithm and clinical status of the infant

Data Source: Crib audit/infant observation

Sample Size: Baseline (n=112) Follow-up (n=118)

Age Range: Not specified

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): PROVIDER/PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, Provision of Safe Sleep Item, HOSPITAL, Quality Improvement, Policy/Guideline (Hospital), Crib Card, Visual Display (Hospital), Sleep Environment Modification, Promotional Event, CAREGIVER, Education/Training (caregiver), Educational Material (caregiver), Attestation (caregiver), HEALTH_CARE_PROVIDER_PRACTICE, Audit/Attestation

Intervention Description: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to promote the AAP safe sleep recommendations and provide appropriate role modeling of these recommendations for hemodynamically stable infants throughout their hospital stay.

Intervention Results: Observations noted an improvement from 70% to 90% (p< 0.01) of infants in a safe sleep position when comparing pre- and postintervention results. There were some improvements in knowledge of and agreement with the AAP guidelines after the educational intervention, but not as much as expected.

Conclusion: There was inconsistency between nursing knowledge and practice about safe infant sleep. Nurses were aware of the AAP recommendations, but it took time to achieve close to full compliance in changing clinical practice. Observation was an important part of this initiative to reinforce knowledge and role model best practice for parents.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: Golisano Children’s Hospital at the University of Rochester in NY

Population of Focus: Hemodynamically stable infants less than 1 year of age in the mother-baby unit and nine pediatric units

Data Source: Crib audit/infant observation

Sample Size: Baseline (n=65) Follow-up (n=60)

Age Range: Not specified

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): PROVIDER/PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, Educational Material (Provider), HOSPITAL, Crib Card, Visual Display (Hospital), CAREGIVER, Education/Training (caregiver), Educational Material (caregiver)

Intervention Description: To determine the impact, at 60 days of life, of an educational intervention conducted in maternity centers aimed at improving adherence to the recommendations on safe infant sleep.

Intervention Results: After the intervention, a 35% increase in the supine sleeping position (p < 0.0001) was observed; exclusive breastfeeding increased by 11% (p= 0.01); and co-sleeping decreased from 31% to 18% (p< 0.0005).

Conclusion: The educational intervention was useful to improve adherence to the recommendations on safe sleep at 60 days of life: using the supine position and breastfeeding improved, and the rate of co-sleeping decreased. No changes were observed in the number of household members who smoke, bedroom sharing, and pacifier use.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: Hospital Municipal Comodoro Meisner and Hospital Universitario Austral

Population of Focus: Live newborns with >36 gestation weeks born in two hospitals whose mothers lived in the District of Pilar without major congenital malformations and/or hospitalization in the NICU for more than 10 days

Data Source: Caregiver report

Sample Size: Baseline (n=251) Follow-up (n=248)

Age Range: Not specified

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): PROVIDER/PRACTICE, Provision of Safe Sleep Item, Provider Training/Education, HOSPITAL, Quality Improvement, Policy/Guideline (Hospital), Visual Display (Hospital), Sleep Environment Modification, CAREGIVER

Intervention Description: This quality improvement study aimed to increase adherence to SSPs for infants admitted to a children's hospital general care unit between October 2013 and December 2014.

Intervention Results: Audit data showed that there was a non-significant increase in supine position from 81.0% to 84.3% from baseline to follow-up (p=0.54). Caregiver report showed that there was a non-significant increase in supine position from 89.3% to 93.8% (p=0.42).

Conclusion: Sustained improvements in hospital SSPs were achieved through this quality improvement initiative, with opportunity for continued improvement. Nurse knowledge increased during the intervention. It is uncertain whether these findings translate to changes in caregiver home practices after discharge.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: American Family Children’s Hospital in WI

Population of Focus: Infants <12 months admitted to medical and surgical units; Caregivers of infants <6 months after hospital discharge

Data Source: Crib audit/infant observation; Caregiver report

Sample Size: Baseline (n=59) Follow-up (n=257); Baseline (n=56) Follow-up (n=48)

Age Range: Not specified

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Visual Display (Hospital), Patient-Centered Medical Home, Quality Improvement, Provider Tools

Intervention Description: After the introduction of the “A Bit About Me” boards, staff and parents were surveyed again over the course of 3 weeks. Items from the preintervention questionnaire were used after the intervention to measure for changes across the parameters of interest.

Intervention Results: There was a significant increase in whether nurses felt they knew what comforts their patients and their patients’ favorite toy (P < .005). A significant improvement in whether doctors felt they knew their patients well (P < .5) and could recognize them outside the hospital (P < .005) was also observed Table 2). Moreover, the perception of the PICU as a welcoming environment improved (P < .05); following our intervention, both doctors and parents felt that nurses know their patients well (P < .05). Improvements in all other questionnaire items were also noted; however, these did not demonstrate statistical significance (Table 3). These results were further supported by improved parents’ views regarding whether HCPs knew what comforts their child (pre, 77%; post, 100%) (Figure 3A and B), their favorite toy (pre, 45%; post, 100%) (Figure 3C and D), and if they could recognize their child outside the hospital (pre, 66%; post, 100%) (Figure 3E and F).

Conclusion: Personalized bedside boards significantly improved how well HCPs knew their patients across various elements. Patient-centered care and, in turn, patient safety in PICUs can be promoted by using personalized bedside boards containing nonmedical information to help HCPs understand their patients’ individual needs and tailor their treatment.

Study Design: An unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t-test was used to analyze and compare the pre- and postintervention results.

Setting: PICU in London - 13-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of St. Mary’s Hospital, London, United Kingdom

Population of Focus: families of children in PICU - healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and pharmacists) working in the PICU, as well as the parents of children in the PICU

Sample Size: 36 - combination of parents, doctors, nurses, others - The project collected 38 questionnaires to obtain baseline data, while 36 questionnaires were completed after the introduction of the personalized bedside boards .

Age Range: parents of children in the PICU

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): PROVIDER/PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, HOSPITAL, CAREGIVER, Education/Training (caregiver), Educational Material (caregiver), Visual Display (Hospital)

Intervention Description: To determine infant sleep positioning practices and SIDS awareness before and after a hospital-based Back to Sleep campaign.

Intervention Results: Comparing baseline to follow-up, there was no significant change in supine sleep position (20.4% vs. 22.4%) (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The Back to Sleep campaign was effective in our hospital setting. Our data indicate the need for special targeting of young, unmarried, and non-breast-feeding mothers. Fear of choking remains an important deterrent to proper infant sleep positioning.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: Pediatric ambulatory care center of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in NY

Population of Focus: Mothers of healthy term infants 6 months and younger born in the hospital and attending the pediatric outpatient clinics

Data Source: Mother report

Sample Size: Baseline (n=250) Follow-up (n=250)

Age Range: Not specified