PQCNC Maternal and Newborn

Kickoff Meeting
January 24, 2019
McKimmon Center, Raleigh NC
More info: pqcnc.org

Join us as we kickoff both our maternal and newborn initiatives at the same time! We are excited to offer a full day of
engaging speakers and expert collaboration that will kickstart your work as we focus on improving care for moms and
babies across the state. Our new 2019 maternal initiative will focus on decreasing our primary cesarean rate for
nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex newborns while the newborn initiative will attempt to define standards that will
provide for safe care of newborns at-risk for hypoglycemia.

The day will begin with world-renowned speakers in the perinatal field and finish off with afternoon breakout sessions
full of collaboration that will prepare all teams to be successful as they embark on making North Carolina the best place
to give birth and be born.

Dr. Schulman is a neonatologist and Director of NICU Quality Measurement and Improvement
at the California Department of Health Care Services. He is also an adjunct Professor of
Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. His peer-reviewed publications center
on NICU quality improvement, clinical informatics, and infection prevention/antibiotic use. He
is the author of two books: Evaluating the Processes of Neonatal Intensive Care; and Managing
Your Patients Data in the Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units; each published by BMJ
Books/Blackwell/John Wiley. Dr. Schulman’s recent paper published in Pediatrics in May
2105, revealed a striking 40-fold variation in antibiotic prescribing practices in 127 NICUs in
California. This antibiotic use occurred despite similar burdens of proven infection, surgery, or
NEC, a significant proportion of antibiotic use was unwarranted. We are thrilled Dr. Schulman
can join us and share his work to discuss Variations in Care in the NICU.

Dr. Neel Shah, MD, MPP is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive
Biology at Harvard Medical School, and associate faculty at the Ariadne Labs for Health
Systems Innovation. He is an expert in designing, testing, and spreading system interventions
that improve patient care. As a general obstetrician-gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center, Dr. Shah’s talk will explain efforts to understand why there is tremendous
variation in cesarean rates by hospital-ranging from 7% to 70%. This means that in 2016 a
mother’s greatest risk factor for getting a cesarean may be which hospital she goes to. Dr. Shah
will explain efforts to understand what makes “Hospital A” different from “Hospital B” as he
examines system complexity.

David H. Adamkin, M.D. is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville. Dr. Adamkin
is Director of the Division of Neonatal Medicine, Co-Director of the Neonatal Fellowship
Program and Director of Neonatal Nutrition Research. His research interest is in Neonatal
Nutrition. He has authored over 100 articles, 40 book chapters, 5 books, and 20 webinars
dealing with methods and strategies to nourish premature infants. This includes research in
infant formula development and human milk. Dr. Adamkin served a six-year appointment to
the Committee on Fetus and Newborn for the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is the
author on the statement on Neonatal Hypoglycemia for the AAP and has presented on this work
to discuss the differences in definition of hypoglycemia of the newborn as defined by the AAP
and The Pediatric Endocrine Society. He will discuss the brewing topic of “Neonatal
Hypoglycemia, Making Sense of Different Opinions.”

William Parker has studied biochemistry, microbiology and immunology at Duke University
since 1993. Best known for the discovery of the function of the human vermiform appendix (a
safe-house for bacteria), William has spent the last 15 years looking at fundamental causes of
inflammation in Western societies. His work on “biota alteration”, a concept which evolved
from the “hygiene hypothesis”, has been aimed at evaluating the role of the gut ecosystem in
mental health. William has published more than 120 peer reviewed papers, including a number
of studies evaluating the role of the microbiota in inflammation and disease.