Crouse Health Receives New York State Perinatal Quality Collaborative (NYSPQC) 2020 Enteral Nutrition Quality Improvement Award

The New York State Perinatal Quality Collaborative (NYSPQC) has awarded Crouse Health’s Kienzle Family Maternity Center with the Enteral Nutrition Improvement Project 2020 Quality Improvement Award.

This award recognizes Crouse’s participation in the project and the dedicated work to support optimization of early enteral nutrition and minimization of postnatal growth restriction in newborns of less than 31 weeks gestational age.

As a project participant, Crouse worked to develop and implement policies and procedures to optimize enteral nutrition; improve the use of mother’s milk or donor breast milk, when mother’s milk was not available; initiate timely parenteral nutrition, colostrum care and enteral feedings; improve family-centered care and decrease inequities; and foster a culture of safety and improvement.

The NYSPQC aims to prove the best and safest care for pregnant and birthing women and infants in New York State. The NYSPQC has been collaborating with birthing facilities since 2010 to improve and ensure the quality of obstetrical care and infant health and safety.

Through the Enteral Nutrition Improvement Project, the Kienzle Family Maternity Center had the opportunity to learn from faculty and colleagues; receive individual coaching; gather new knowledge on the subject matter and process improvement and create strategies to overcome barriers.

“We are proud to have earned this recognition from New York State’s Department of Health,” says Director of Women and Infants Services, Betty O’Connor. “Since Crouse delivers more babies than any other hospital in our region, this award affirms our mission of providing the best in patient care to babies, mothers and families.”

Due to the efforts of participating facilities such as the Kienzle Family Maternity Center, the project was able to meet and exceed their goal of reducing the percentage of newborns less than 31 weeks gestational age who are discharged from Regional Perinatal Centers and Level III NICUs below the tenth percentile for birth weight by 10 percent statewide.