Record, reflect and refine: using video review as an initiative to improve neonatal care

Veerle Heesters; Henriette A van Zanten; Veerle Heijstek; Arjan B Te Pas; Ruben S G M Witlox

doi:10.1038/s41390-024-03083-w

Record, reflect and refine: using video review as an initiative to improve neonatal care

Pediatr Res. 2024 Feb 14. doi: 10.1038/s41390-024-03083-w. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Veerle Heesters¹, Henriette A van Zanten², Veerle Heijstek², Arjan B Te Pas², Ruben S G M Witlox²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Neonatology, Department of Paediatrics, Willem-Alexander Children's Hospital, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. v.heesters@lumc.nl.
² Division of Neonatology, Department of Paediatrics, Willem-Alexander Children's Hospital, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.

PMID: 38356026
DOI: 10.1038/s41390-024-03083-w

Abstract

Background: The goal of every medical team is to provide optimal care for their patients. We aimed to use video review (VR) sessions to identify and address areas for improvement in neonatal care.

Methods: For nine months, neonatal procedures (stabilization at birth, intubations and sterile line insertions) were video recorded and reviewed with the neonatal care providers. Action research was used to identify and address areas for improvement which were categorized as (1) protocol/equipment adjustments, (2) input for research, (3) aspects of variety, or (4) development of educational material or training programs.

Results: Eighteen VR sessions were organized with a mean(SD) of 17(5) staff members participating. In total, 120 areas for improvement were identified and addressed, of which 84/120 (70%) were categorized as aspects of variety, 20/120 (17%) as development of educational material or training programs, 10/120 (8%) as protocol/equipment adjustments, and 6/120 (5%) as input for research. The areas for improvement were grouped in themes per category, including sterility, technique, equipment, communication, teamwork, parents' perspective and ventilation.

Conclusion: Our study showed that regularly organized VR empowered healthcare providers to identify and address a large variety of areas for improvement, contributing to continuous learning and improvement processes.

Impact: Video review empowered healthcare providers to identify areas for improvement in neonatal care Video review gave providers the opportunity to address identified areas for improvement, either by enhancing the application of external evidence (i.e. guidelines), learning from individual clinical expertise or strengthening resilience and teamwork Embedding regularly organized video review sessions allowed for continuous monitoring of care by providers, which can be beneficial for creating ongoing learning and improvement processes The structured pathways, supporting implementation of changes that were proposed based on the video review sessions, could help other centers make use of the potential video review has to offer.