The Newborn Admission Temperature (NAT) Initiative was the first TCHMB project to measure outcomes disaggregated by race and ethnicity from hospitals, an important step toward understanding and reducing disparities in perinatal healthcare and health outcomes in Texas. Of particular note are the following findings:

• The findings of decreased hypothermia among NICU admissions — in NICUs that consistently reported race and ethnicity disaggregated data — highlight the potential of statewide initiatives for improvement in settings caring for the most vulnerable newborns.

• The NAT Initiative identified significant disparities in hypothermia incidence, with newborns of non-Hispanic Black mothers having approximately twice the incidence compared to newborns of non-Hispanic White mothers.

More key findings, data, and conclusions & future directions are available in the NAT Initiative Executive Summary.

NAT Project Data

Newborn Admission Temperature Data Dashboard, July 2021 - June 2023

Quarterly Reports

• January – March 2022

• October – December 2021

• July – September 2021

Immediate postnatal hypothermia is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality in all neonates, including premature neonates. Challenges in thermoregulation persist–especially when caring for the smallest preterm infants–despite readily available evidence-based thermal care recommendations to minimize heat loss immediately after birth. Indeed, hyperthermia is also associated with adverse outcomes.

Reducing variation in neonatal thermal care will diminish the risks with hypo- and hyperthermia exposure-related outcomes in all newborns thus increasing newborn health care quality and patient safety. Reducing variation through the implementation of best practices also helps to reduce health disparities.

Further, the Perinatal Committee of the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council conducted a newborn admission temperature project in their region, which showed positive outcomes for all newborns, including term infants. Our goal is expand their project statewide.

TCHMB and the RAC PCR Alliance are working together to establish a statewide collaborative around the Newborn Admission Temperature project. The RAC PCR Alliance will be critical in successful implementation of the project as they will be the liaison that connects TCHMB with every single hospital stakeholder across the state.