A telehealth initiative co-created by Yui Matsuda, PhD, PHNA-BC, MPH, associate professor of clinical at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies (SONHS), is one of four innovative care models the American Academy of Nursing (Academy) has selected for its prestigious Edge Runners Awards this year.
“Edge Runners are evidence-based, nurse-designed models that demonstrate significant clinical, financial, community, and policy outcomes with proven sustainability and replicability,” stated the Academy announcement. “Each of these programs highlights nurses’ ingenuity and collaboration in developing new methods to provide care and promote health equity.”
Dr. Matsuda co-developed “Baby Steps: Nurse-led Telehealth for Transition of Care” with Danielle Altares Sarik, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, a pediatric nurse practitioner and research nurse scientist at Miami’s Nicklaus Children’s Hospital (Nicklaus).
“In addition to the intrinsic reward we already get from serving these babies and families,” said Dr. Matsuda, “it is wonderful to have recognition from the Academy that our work is making a difference.”
Baby Steps was born out of Matsuda’s personal postpartum experience, when her newborn had to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). “Those four days felt like forever,” she said. More nerve-wracking still was the thought of leaving the supportive NICU environment, with its round-the-clock specialized care and highly skilled nurses. “The anxiety and stress I felt as I went home with my son was very difficult,” admitted Matsuda, whose child is now a healthy 5-year-old.
With their dream team of NICU nurses and IT specialists from Nicklaus and grad students from SONHS, Drs. Matsuda and Altares Sarik developed a language-concordant, culturally appropriate nurse-led telehealth model to ensure that families leaving the NICU— regardless of their insurance or socioeconomic status—could receive a comprehensive routine of infant care throughout their challenging hospital-to-home transition.
“Having the support of a NICU nurse after discharge is very important for families,” said Matsuda. “This is something I would have loved to have had when I gave birth to my son.”
With the support of their respective institutions plus a three-year grant from the Florida Blue Foundation, the Baby Steps team launched its evidence-based intervention. As timing would have it, all of this unfolded around the start of COVID-19, so telehealth was a logical, and desperately needed component of the program. An award from the UM Citizens Board also gave SONHS nursing students the chance to gain invaluable telehealth experience by participating in a simulated version of the Baby Steps model.
In just three years at Nicklaus, Baby Steps has made great strides. As of early 2023, it had served over 600 families discharged from the hospital’s NICU, the majority of whom expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the program (93%) and accessed care through public health insurance (62%). By decreasing 30-day readmissions by 57%, $225,000 has been saved from readmissions alone, with another $21,349 estimated in travel cost savings for families. Decreased expenditures as a result of the program have opened the way for the model to transition from grant funding into the organization’s operational budget.
“We are proud of the interventions developed by our faculty, and the tremendous impact they have in improving the lives of our community," said Dr. Hudson Santos, Vice Dean for Research Affairs at SONHS. In fact, Dr. Matsuda follows in the steps of SONHS Dean Cindy L. Munro, designated an Edge Runner in 2016.
This year’s other Edge Runners Awards go to Guardian Nurses: Mobile Care Coordinator® Program, Hawaii Keiki: Healthy & Ready to Learn, and SPEACS-2: Communication Training and Toolkit. Program leads for each award-winning care model will be honored at the Academy’s 2023 Health Policy Conference, taking place October 5- 7, 2023, in Washington, DC.
“The Academy is proud to designate these unique and solution-oriented initiatives as Edge Runners. The diverse focus of these models highlights the wide range of services, vital support, and team-based approaches that the nursing profession provides,” said Academy President Kenneth White, PhD, AGACNP, ACHPN, FACHE, FAAN. “Each of these models demonstrate how nurses serve as innovative change agents who are addressing a specific health care challenge—whether it is transition of care for neonates, building trust with members of the community, improving health of students, or empowering nurses and patients when communication is limited.”
Read more at https://www.aannet.org/initiatives/edge-runners/profiles/baby-steps.
CONTACT
Rosa Lamazares-Romero
Director, University Communications
School of Nursing & Health Studies
305-284-6255
rmlromero@miami.edu
