Single-family room neonatal intensive care unit design: do patient outcomes actually change?

OBJECTIVE

This study examined outcomes in a single-family room neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) compared to an open bay within a public safety net hospital.

STUDY

DESIGN

We included 9995 NICU encounters over 5 years pre and post move for a predominantly low SES population. Outcomes were length of stay (LOS), growth, time to first oral feeding, and incidence of sepsis. Analysis included regression models, interrupted time series, and growth models.

RESULTS

LOS decreased over time in preterm infants both pre and post move, but increased post move for term/post-term infants (p < 0.001). First oral feeding decreased over time in both periods. A higher incidence of sepsis was found in the post period for term/post-term infants (p = 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Our analysis appropriately accounted for time trends. Few differences were observed. Changes in LOS for term/post-term infants should be further explored as well as the impact of NICU care patterns.