rvasa

Our protocol was to treat every newborn born with maternal diagnosis of chorioamnionitis (at least 48 hours of antibiotics, longer if suspicion for sepsis gets stronger). The confirmed cases of sepsis were very rare occurrence. Diagnosis of chorioamnionitis is also a problem (many times just on basis of maternal temperature). Starting this year, we are participating in collaborative QI project of Vermont-Oxford Network (year-long project) and have started to use the sepsis risk calculator to have an evidence based approach to evaluation and management of babies for early onset sepsis/maternal chorioamnionitis. You may want to look into use of this calculator in your settings. References: Pediatrics2014;133:30-36

We do have a plan and we do use evacuation vests. Once a year, the staff go through a paper based competency test to update the knowledge, however there is no formal drill on a regular basis. We did face a situation several years ago, when we had a small fire in the NICU, which necessitated evacuating NICU, using vest. Fire was quickly controlled and everybody returned to unit within 20-30 minutes or so.