NIC/Q Quality Improvement Collaboratives

VON offers members the opportunity to participate in multi-center quality improvement collaboratives. Our NIC/Q program allows for more intensive, face-to-face collaboration while our iNICQ program allows centers to participate with others over the internet via web-based conferences.

Both collaboratives are supported by nationally-recognized faculty with the goals of:

• Making measurable improvements in NICU quality, safety, and efficiency.
• Developing new resources and tools for NICU quality improvement.
• Disseminating knowledge throughout the neonatology community.
• Identifying, testing, and implementing 'potentially better practices' in a broad range of clinical, organizational, and operational domains of newborn care.

VON has developed the Four Key Habits of Improvements, which are the basis of each collaborative. These key habits emphasize:

• Change
• Collaborative learning
• Evidence-based practice
• Systems thinking

NIC/Q participants attend two meetings annually where they participate in plenary sessions, group work and poster sessions. These meetings serve as an excellent forum for networking, social interaction and direct collaboration with teams from other NICUs. NIC/Q teams continue their QI work between meetings via regular local team meetings, interest group conference calls and a dedicated email listserv.