Attention NICU Nurses and Nurse Practitioners: Do you have an unique or mystery case you would like to present? Submit an abstract for your mystery Case of the Year, presented by VON and NANN! Abstracts are due 4/1/26! Visit bit.ly/VONCOY26 to learn more and submit today! #neosky #VON

Celebrating the dietitians who help NICU babies grow and thrive! At VON, portal access isn't limited to physicians and nurses-dietitians, SLP's and more can engage in: QI, education and data. To learn more how you can be connected to your center, contact your VON team or send us an e-mail. #neosky

With over 300 publications across a variety of topics, including this new article from Hannah Edwards MA, MSc, et al. This article utilizes VON data to help analyze magnesium sulfate and antenatal steroid use. To read this and all VON publications, please visit: bit.ly/4cQGh23 #neosky

We are pleased to announce 4 scholarship opportunities across the care spectrum for the VON Quality Congress, happening in Chicago, IL on November 6-8! Please visit bit.ly/VONQC26 to learn more! Applications are due 4/1/26! Stay tuned for conference registration, opening 5/1/26!

Time Series Reporting: a discharge date–based data set that allows centers to view outcomes on a rolling timeline...meaning your team can detect trends sooner, test changes, watch for practice drift, and measure improvement without waiting for year-end reports. #neosky bit.ly/VONTimeSerie

📢 New paper! Worldwide analysis reveals gaps in use of two life-saving antenatal treatments for premature babies 👉 arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/global-gaps-... @hannah-b-edwards.bsky.social @karenluyt.bsky.social @frankdv.bsky.social @vtoxfordnetwork.bsky.social @bristoluni.bsky.social

Our commitment to health equity includes examining how immigration status functions as a social determinant of health. Dr. Horbar outlines why this issue mattersn within the NICU, where policies and lived experiences directly affect the families we serve. #neosky bit.ly/3MvJV6G

With the ever changing landscape of NICU care, we join organizations to help standardize shared language for our smallest patients. We invite you to take a survey to help guide workshops, quality improvement, and naming of this subset of ELBW infants. #neosky bit.ly/surveyELBW

The recording of our February Grand Rounds webinar, Transfusion Thresholds, is now available! With a simple VON log in (if you do not have one, click "register new user") you will have access to this recording and others! Our next one is May 6th and will cover EPO! #neosky bit.ly/4mfxRTt

The On with VON series of podcast episodes, with The Incubator Podcast, will follow VON Grand Rounds webinars to dive deeper into audience questions, starting with the NICU environment with Drs. Soll and White. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or by clicking bit.ly/ONwithVON1. #neosky

Did you know, with a simple VON log in, you have access to a variety of health equity resources? Please visit our website to learn more about how VON can help your team best serve your infants and families. #neosky bit.ly/32HGi3h

Health and well being are largely determined by race, ethnicity, income, immigration status, and local neighborhood. The effects are pronounced for infants in NICU care. At VON, we provide free resources to help teams best serve families, available via simple log in. #neosky bit.ly/32HGi3h

At VON we believe in using data to help identify areas of improvement. Here we review data key data points from birth year 2024 across black non-Hispanic, white non-Hispanic, and Hispanic US infants born at 22-29 weeks GA and we see variation across race/ethnicity. #neosky bit.ly/32HGi3h

Using data submitted by over 1000 international centers, we track data on a variety of congenital heart defects and surgeries associated with them. As data drives many decisions, we are proud to monitor trends in the data over time. To learn more, please visit bit.ly/3AXoNjm #neosky

Partnering with the AAP SONPM, we recognize 5 fellows/early career neonatologists dedicated to data-driven QI with the AAP/VON Scholar Awards. Scholars receive registration to the 2026 VON Quality Congress (Nov. 5-8) and travel stipend. Applications due April 1. bit.ly/3MyAfrW. #neosky

Vermont Oxford Network is pleased to announce the first enrolled patients in the SASI trial! In partnership with the African Neonatal Network and P-95, through an investment from the Gates Foundation, this trial compares two methods of administering surfactant. #neosky bit.ly/4gUIDN1

We are proud to share with you an important new book, edited by our VON Vice President Dr. Roger Soll. Dr. John Zupancic and Dr. Susanne Hay were on hand to sign copies...we missed Dr. Soll who was stuck in Vermont during a snow storm! #neosky bit.ly/4kl6bwo Use code AMPROMD9 to save 30% !

We are back! The VON team is so excited to announce our return to Chicago, IL in 9 months! November 5-8, we invite you to gather in community as we share evidence based practices updates and quality improvement projects. #neosky bit.ly/VONQC

Join us this Wednesday for the first Grand Rounds of 2026! You can register at bit.ly/3Zql0E8. #neosky

As iNICQ members, the team at Novant Health demonstrated excellence with their project to improve chronic lung disease rates. This center tracked unplanned extubations, oxygen saturation parameters, and the use of histograms to promote oxygen weaning. #neosky bit.ly/49lEOyz.

We honor Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, a 2025 Excellence in QI award recipient. Parents play a key role in every day care, and this center worked to increase parent presence and participation in pain reduction strategies, including during 2 month immunizations. #neosky bit.ly/49lEOyz

The VON Global Health team, lead by Dr. Danielle Ehret, is proud to announce a new publication. This study examines how participating in a neonatal QI community in Ethiopia was associated with measurable improvement in care processes and outcomes from 2018-2022. #neosky bit.ly/3YLOgoH

Today we highlight the work of Norton Children's Hospital. As part of their work to reduce severe IVH while also enhancing parent’s experience in the NICU, this center worked to change the time to first skin-to-skin in infants born less than 32 weeks. bit.ly/49lEOyz #neosky

Congratulations to the team at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital for their work to improve sleep for infants with BPD. The team created a care bundle to protect sleep and promote neurodevelopment of infants with BPD. To learn more about this project, visit bit.ly/49lEOyz. #neosky

Congratulations St. Joseph Medical Center for their work to enhance parent's experience in the NICU while also promoting neurodevelopment of ELBW infants. This center worked to increase their skin to skin time by enhancing time to first hold and frequency of holding. bit.ly/49lEOyz #neosky

Announcing our first Grand Rounds of 2026: Evidence to Practice: Transfusion Thresholds. Transfusion thresholds for packed red blood cells and platelets have been evaluated in multiple RCTs and meta- analyses. Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. ET. #neosky bit.ly/4b4uNqM

For infants with BPD, sleep is essential to lung recovery and brain development, therefore the team at Manning Family Children's worked to improve prolonged sleep periods with the development of a SNOOZE project with a goal of reducing nighttime interventions and disruptions. bit.ly/49lEOyz

Dr. King's timeless message reminds us that advocacy and action for better health outcomes can't wait. VON's community of clinicians answers that call, building a brighter future for babies and their families. Learn more about our health equity work, visit public.vtoxford.org/health-equit.

VON is a proud sponsor of the Delphi Conference and will have a booth in the exhibitor area. Stop by and see us...we can't wait to chat with you! #DelphiConference2026 #NICUPodcast #Neonatology

Today we recognize award recipient Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. In an effort to reduce painful procedures and the number of pokes an infant receives during the first 14 days of life, the team implemented consolidated labs and the use of transcutaneous monitoring to limit the lab draws.

Today we share the work of Peyton Manning Children's Hospital. With a goal of reducing severe IVH in infants born less than 27 weeks, the multidisciplinary team implemented a neuroprotective care bundle to include improvements during the antenatal, delivery, admission, and NICU stay time periods.

New from @vtoxfordnetwork.bsky.social: Evaluation of the Ethiopian Neonatal Network, one of the first low-income country neonatal QI communities, with important improvements in survival. Open access: gh.bmj.com/content/11/1... #neosky

Announcing the 8 recipients of the 2025 VON Award for Excellence in Quality Improvement! We recognize multidisciplinary teams, including family partners, who demonstrate dedication to QI. We will showcase QI posters here over the next few weeks. Join us for ‘26 by visiting bit.ly/3WV67bR

That's a wrap on year 3 of the All Care is Brain Care QI Collaborative! We are so proud of the teams who joined us and all the hard work they did to improve the care and outcomes of infants and their families in the NICU. Want to join us..2026 enrollment is now open! #neosky bit.ly/3WV67bR

2025 was another amazing year at VON and we are so grateful to all our members who work each and every day to improve the lives of infants and their families. We are so excited for 2026...especially the return of the VON Quality Conference in Chicago Nov 5-8! #neosky bit.ly/VONQC

From the VON team to you and your team, we hope your holiday season is filled with friends, family, community, and tradition. Happy Holidays.

Dr. Kaplan's #1: Early wins! Across the year, teams are demonstrating real, measurable progress: fewer lab draws, better documentation of pain score, and creative tracking of sleep interruptions or other neuroprotective care processes. Small wins today drive the big improvements of tomorrow. #neosky

Dr. Kaplan, VON faculty, outlined a "Top 10 List" to show all the learnings from the year. #2: Teams are tackling outcomes that are hard to influence—but important for babies and families. Rather than avoiding hard-to-measure areas like pain, pokes, and parental wellbeing, they’re leaning in.

#3: When observations are limited, plotting subgroups monthly can challenge traditional run and control charts—especially when many points fall at 0 or 100. In these cases, G-charts can help by tracking the number of patients between rare events, making patterns clearer and easier to act on. #neosky

#4 on Dr. Kaplan's list: When outcomes fail to improve, it’s a signal to revisit the team’s theory of change—and update the driver diagram accordingly. As teams test interventions, the realities of workflow, timing, and bottlenecks often reveal gaps in the framework. #neosky bit.ly/3WV67bR

In Nov., Dr. Kaplan, made a good ol’ Top 10 List about lessons from the year. The EMR is powerful, giving real time data to identify gaps, monitor processes, and measure change. Even concepts like Reducing Pain & Pokes become measurable when teams track labs, PIV attempts, or pain assessments.

Dr. Kaplan's #6: Rational subgrouping organizes data in a way that makes each subgroup as similar as possible-so signals of change are easier to detect in practice this might mean grouping data by factors such as race, location, diagnosis, or even shift depending on what influences the process.

Stratifying data involves organizing data into groups. Shown here, overall KMC rates improved from 33% to 52%. When the team stratified by primary language, they revealed an equity-focused improvement opportunity that averages alone would have obscured. #neosky bit.ly/3WV67bR

Dr. Heather Kaplan, VON faculty member, outlined a "Top 10 List" to show QI learnings from the year. Measurement is essential to every PDSA cycle, providing both qualitative and quantitative data needed to determine whether a change achieved its intended effect. bit.ly/3WV67bR #neosky

Dr. Heather Kaplan's, VON faculty member, "Top 10 List" highlights QI learnings from the year. #9: A Pareto chart combines bar and line graphs to highlight factors with the greatest impact. Teams can focus QI efforts on the vital few items most in need of attention. bit.ly/3WV67bR #neosky

Dr. Heather Kaplan, VON faculty member, outlined an old-fashioned "Top 10 List" to highlight key learnings from the year. Qualitative data captures the “why” behind the numbers—insights observed but not measured. It adds essential context to project findings. #neosky bit.ly/3WV67bR

The VON team is heading to DC next week to the Hot Topics in Neonatology conference. We'd love to chat with you about all our programs including. We will be at booth 33 all week. Be sure to stop by!

From the VON Team to your team, we are grateful for the work each and every one of you do to collect your data and work to improve the outcomes of infants worldwide. Happy Thanksgiving.

Congratulations to Dr. Danielle Ehret, VON's Chief Medical Officer and Director of Global Health, who received the Marie McCormick lectureship. Presented by her collegues, Dr. DeWayne Pursley and Dr. John Zupancic, Dr. Ehret became the 2nd VON team member to receive this award. Congratulations!

November is World Prematurity Awareness month-a time to honor every baby born too soon and the families and care teams who walk withthem. We're committed to improving outcomes for premature infants through shared data, collaboration, and learning across our global community. bit.ly/4lAfjfJ.