Project Description
In 2020, March and Dimes NICU Family Support and the Vermont Oxford Network (VON), a leader in NICU quality improvement, collaborated with the March of Dimes Evaluation Team to conduct focus groups to identify opportunities to improve quality of life for families after the NICU.
This project collected information from staff and volunteers engaged as both March of Dimes NICU Family Support Coordinators and VON Quality Improvement specialists.
The following questions were asked:
- What does a positive and successful transition home or life after NICU look like?
- How would a family define this?
- Do different families require different support and/or resources?
- How would a hospital define this?
- Do different hospitals have different definitions
- Tell us a story about a time when you feel you had a positive impact on the family or families that you were serving.
- What about your story brings you satisfaction?
- What are some of the enabling factors to this situation?
- Were there any issues, and if so, how were they resolved?
- What are the barriers to a positive transition to as well as life after the NICU?
- What are your suggestions for new or additional support or services that March of Dimes and VON might collaborate on to positively impact families’ experiences after the NICU experience?
Contribution to Scientific Community
The March of Dimes and VON presented at the 2021 VON Annual Quality Congress.
Presentation title: “Improving Life Beyond the NICU”
Plans are in place to submit findings to a peer-reviewed journal in 2022.