Unequal care: Racial/ethnic disparities in neonatal intensive care delivery.

Advances in neonatal intensive care have improved outcomes for preterm newborns, but significant racial/ethnic disparities persist. Neonatal disparities have their origin in a complex set of factors that include systemic racism and structural disadvantages endured by minority families, but differential quality of care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) remains an important and modifiable source of disparity. NICU care has been shown to be segregated and unequal: Black and Hispanic infants are more likely to be cared for in lower quality NICUs and may receive worse care within a NICU. To eliminate disparities in care and outcomes, it is important to identify and address the mechanisms that lead to lower quality care for minority preterm infants. In this review, we identify improvements in both technical (clinical) and relational (engaging and supporting families) processes of care as critical to better outcomes for minority infants and families.

Changing safety culture.

Safety culture, an aspect of organizational culture, that reflects work place norms toward safety, is foundational to high-quality care. Improvements in safety culture are associated with improved operational and clinical outcomes. In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where fragile infants receive complex, coordinated care over prolonged time periods, it is critically important that unit norms reflect the high priority placed on safety. Changing the safety culture of the NICU involves a systematic process of measurement, identifying strengths and weaknesses, deploying targeted interventions, and learning from the results, to set the stage for an iterative process of improvement. Successful change efforts require: effective partnerships with key stakeholders including management, clinicians, staff, and families; using data to make the case for improvement; and leadership actions that motivate change, channel resources, and support active problem- solving. Sustainable change requires buy-in from NICU staff and management, resources, and long-term institutional commitment.