St. Dominic’s Hosts First “Micropreemie” Conference in Mississippi

April 17, 2024

Healthcare professionals representing neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) nationwide gathered at St. Dominic’s on April 14-16 to learn best practices for the care of micro-premature infants as part of an annual conference held by the Vermont Oxford Network (VON). This was the first VON conference held in Mississippi.

Since 2010, St. Dominic’s has been a member of the Vermont Oxford Network, a worldwide association of NICUs that evaluate the quality and performance of neonatal practices through information-sharing, education and networking to improve perinatal and neonatal care.

During the conference, attendees toured St. Dominic’s 23-bed, Level III NICU where more than 200 babies are admitted every year. St. Dominic’s NICU also houses a Small Baby Unit for “micropreemies,” or babies born earlier than 28 weeks’ gestation and/or weighing less than 1000 grams.

“St. Dominic’s was chosen as the host site for this meeting because of our exemplary performance, quality outcomes and multidisciplinary approach to NICU care,” said Jennifer Myers, RN, BSN, Director of Mother/Baby/GYN Surgery, NICU, & Lactation at St. Dominic’s. “These professionals came to us to gain insight into best practices in caring for micropreemies. We were also evaluated by our peers attending the session and received feedback on any improvements we could make. The goal of this conference is sharing information and working collectively to improve outcomes for infants and families.”

Attendees heard presentations from several experts in the field, including Neonatologist Erick Ridout, MD, of Intermountain Health, who has cared for hundreds of preemies needing critical care. His session focused specifically on psychological safety and the importance of huddles as part of the care plan. Dr. Sharyn Gibbins, a nurse scientist, Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, quality improvement facilitator and senior leader at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada presented on pain management.

The conference also featured a “Family Panel” of parents who discussed their experiences of having a baby in St. Dominic’s NICU. Sommer and Robbie Greenlee talked about their experience in the St. Dominic’s NICU with now 11-year-old son Parks who was born at 26 weeks, and Jessyca Burch-Banks told the story of her son Xavier’s birth and stay in the NICU 6 years ago. These families provided insights on how providers can best support NICU families and their role as part of the patient care team.

Vermont Oxford Network (VON) is a voluntary collaboration of more than 1,400 centers worldwide dedicated to improving newborn care and outcomes with data-driven quality improvement. Established in 1988, VON manages databases of Very Low Birth Weight infants and all NICU admissions as well as a Global Neonatal Database for resource-limited settings and a Follow-Up Database for Extremely Low Birth Weight infants. More than 750 teams have participated in VON quality improvement programs, working together to advance evidence-based innovations and family-centered care.

Learn more about St. Dominic's NICU here.