Analysis of Unplanned Extubations at a University Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Unplanned extubations represent a serious adverse event that occurs within neonatal intensive care units. The current literature on unplanned extubations suggests that the incidence of these events can be reduced in the clinical setting. UEs represent the primary respiratory-related adverse event in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and can result in cardiopulmonary collapse requiring emergent reintubation (Carvalho, Mezzacappa, Calil, & Machado, 2010). Staff members of the University of Louisville’s neonatal intensive care unit collected data surrounding unplanned neonatal extubations from November 2017 through December 2018. These data have been used to target modifiable risk factors temporally associated with unplanned infant extubations in an attempt to provide clinically relevant extubation data. The goal of this project is to inspire future evidence-based, quality improvement studies to inform evidence-based clinical policies surrounding unplanned extubations