Development of a quality improvement package for reducing sight-threatening retinopathy of prematurity

PURPOSE: With improving survival of preterm neonates, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is emerging as a major cause of childhood blindness. Incidence of sight-threatening ROP can be reduced by improving the quality of care provided to preterm neonates. METHODS: This before-and-after study was designed to develop a need-based intervention package to improve knowledge, skills, and practices of those providing care for preterm neonates, and to evaluate the effectiveness of this package when combined with point-of-care quality improvement (POCQI) in improving survival of preterm neonates without sight-threatening ROP. The study had a formative component to assess baseline knowledge, skills, practices and attitudes, and to assess the needs of the healthcare staff to improve the care of preterm neonates. It was conducted in four special care neonatal units (SCNU) in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. RESULTS: A theory of change was developed to guide the development of study tools including needs assessment and educational package development. The educational package thus developed has been tested at the study sites in combination with POCQI projects driven by local teams of healthcare providers. The effectiveness of the interventions has been evaluated by collection of individual-level data on neonates admitted at the study sites. CONCLUSION: A multidimensional educational package integrated with system changes in the form of quality improvement (QI) endeavours driven by local context and needs were developed and evaluated in the project.