Touro’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,
Member of the Vermont Oxford Study
Over 900 Neonatal Intensive Care Units worldwide, including Touro’s here in New Orleans, are members of the Vermont Oxford Network. VON defines itself as a “non-profit voluntary collaboration of health care professionals dedicated to improving the quality of medical care for newborn infants and their families through a coordinated program of research, education and quality improvement projects.”
At Touro’s Family Birthing Center 3,368 babies were born last year and approximately 300 were patients in the hospital’s new state-of-the art Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Throughout the world VON members, like Touro, collect data about the care and out-come of 50,000 high-risk infants a year. Through follow up studies and research, the Vermont Oxford Study’s goal is to “identify and implement better practices aimed at achieving measurable improvements in quality and safety.”
www.vtoxford.org www.touro.com
This practicum is an opportunity for a public health student in Maternal and Child Health or Epidemiology.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Excellent communication and strong computer skills
- Ability to gather data from a variety of sources with strict attention to detail
- Interest in neonatology as a public health issue
- Flexible team player who can work comfortably in a diverse workplace
ACTIVITIES include, but are not limited to:
- Reviewing charts and other data sources and recording findings in the VON database
- Analyzing and graphing data for local trends
- Helping to obtain breast feeding rates and opportunities for improvement
- Accompanying Family Birthing Center nurse practitioner on rounds
- Attending monthly Peds/OB conferences with physicians and nursing staff
- Evaluating the current NICU family education packet which includes information on infant CPR, safe sleeping, car seat safety presented to parents at discharge and making recommendations for updated version
This is 300-hour volunteer practicum. To apply, please send your cover letter and resume to Denise.Chetta@Touro.com, who will share them with the Family Birthing Center staff for review. Deadline for applications: March 17, 2014.
