Team Makes Parent-Pleasing Improvements

Parents whose new babies need to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit are physically, mentally and emotionally drained. The NICU UBT at Downey Medical Center convenes a parent advisory council every other month and includes new moms and dads in improvement efforts.  “If we are making a change or have a project coming up, and we run it by the advisory council, it is much more likely to succeed,” says Mandhir Gupta, MD, physician co-lead of the UBT.

Here's What Worked

• Creating more space for storing breast milk
• Forming a parent support group
• Installing video cameras so families could see their babies from home 

What can your team do to include the voice of the patient in your improvement work?