REaSoN 2017
Speaker Abstract Pro-forma
Name: Dr Karen Luyt
Job Title: Consultant Neonatologist, St Michaels Hospital
Title of talk: Improving neurodevelopment by reducing sepsis: a quality initiative
Biographical Sketch:
Karen Luyt was appointed as s a consultant in neonatal medicine in 2004
and as Walport Senior Lecturer in 2009 with a research interest in brain
injury and improving health outcomes in high risk infants. She works as a
clinical neonatologist in the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St
Michael’s Hospital, Bristol.
Lecture Abstract:
Very low birthweight (VLBW, <1500 g) infants are at high risk of infection
during their stay in neonatal intensive care. Infections in VLBW infants have
an additive detrimental effect on neurodevelopmental outcomes. VLBW
infants are at increased risk of infection because of their immunological
immaturity, exacerbated by intensive care interventions such as central
venous catheterisation and ventilation.
Blood stream infections remain a significant problem in NICUs around the
UK. Recent UK Vermont Oxford data reports that 15% of VLBW infants in
participating units develop one or more nosocomial infection. There is
strong evidence that care bundles to reduce bloodstream infections in
neonatal intensive care units can be very effective in preventing
nosocomial infections.
The presentation will focus on the successful implementation of the Cut
Sepsis Incidence (CSI) QI project in a tertiary level NICU and the long term
impact on neurodisability in this cohort of VLBW infants over a 10 year
interval. The key learning points of our QI journey were the value of
systematic benchmarking of outcomes and changing fatalistic attitudes
around the inevitability of blood stream infections in sick VLBW infants.