Timely and accurate data is critical for Texas improve its perinatal outcomes. The new NAT Data Dashboard provides hospitals the opportunity to make improvements that will benefit babies across the state, especially those who are most vulnerable and susceptible to abnormal temperatures at delivery.
Texas has 227 neonatal hospitals that provide critical care to infants and their families. A majority of these are participating in the NAT project, TCHMB’s largest initiative to date. Hospitals submitted one year of data to NAT thus far, and it is the first time the data have been recorded across race and ethnicity. Hospitals can use this data (accessible now through the NAT Data Dashboard) to better understand potential risk groups and opportunities for improvement. Some disparities noted in the data include:
Infants of black mothers have significantly higher prevalence of hypothermia than any other race/ethnicity at both NICU and Mother-Baby Units. However, the disparity is more significant at NICU.
Infants with low birth weight have significantly higher prevalence of hypothermia and hyperthermia at NICU.
A few good reasons to access the NAT Dashboard:
To show hypothermia and other balancing measures varying across hospitals
To improve the quality of data collection
To track improvement before and after implementing components of the example evidence-based guidelines