Posted on 04/29/2024 8:03:20 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
A quality improvement (QI) initiative to standardize care for babies in the NICU following surgery correlated with fewer unplanned intubations and improved mortality rates.
The study streamlined care following surgery in 2019 through routine use of acetaminophen (Tylenol) for pain control, rather than opioids, and use of a checklist to ensure patients were ready for extubation.
Following these changes, the number of unplanned intubations decreased more than 75%, resulting in 11 fewer unplanned intubations each year in the NICU. The percentage of infants receiving acetaminophen following surgery increased from 25% to 90%, which resulted in a significant decline in opioid exposure during the post-operative period.
These improvements have been sustained for more than two years, and in addition, the 30-day mortality rate for postoperative patients in the NICU significantly declined from 6.5% to 0.7%, a nearly 90% decrease.
Using opioids for pain management after neonatal surgery had been standard practice in hospitals, but increases the risk of respiratory depression, which can then lead to unplanned intubations.
A multidisciplinary team engaged in this QI project after noticing that a higher number of infants were experiencing unplanned intubations after surgery relative to peer institutions.
After applying these standards, it soon became clear that opioid use was highly correlated with the increase in unplanned intubations.
Most babies in the NICU need Tylenol to be given through an IV, as alternative routes such as rectal are less effective. IV Tylenol, however, had limited availability until the last 5–10 years, and this improved availability helped facilitate the transition in the GCH NICU.
While there were initial concerns about Tylenol providing the correct amount of pain management, most babies in the NICU responded well to treatment, according to Wakeman.
The GCH NICU has now transitioned to using Tylenol as the first-line option following surgery.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
That’s amazing.
Interesting
Thanx for posting
My liver cannot take Acetaminophen.
I’d love to know who funded that study? The makers of Tylenol?
It’s a generic. They’d be fools to fund that.
Patents on McNeils Tylenol ran out and they sold to Johnson & Johnson. They keep blending it with other drugs and patenting those.
Tylenol is poison and has no effect on severe pain.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.