HJBR May/Jun 2026

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE  I  MAY / JUN 2026 39 Julie Gallois, MD Neonatologist and Director of Quality for Neonatology Manning Family Children’s improvement projects reflect what matters most to patients and families. National Recognition for Quality Improvement For this project, the neonatology team and Manning Family Children’s was re- cently honored by the Vermont Oxford Network (VON) with its Award for Excel- lence in Quality Improvement. This is a distinguished national recognition cele- brating hospitals that demonstrate mea- surable, data-driven improvements in neonatal care. Recognition by VON places Manning Family Children’s among leading neonatal centers nationwide. Along with Manning Family Children’s, seven other hospitals were honored by VON for excellence in quality improvement. Being selected for the VON Award for Excellence in Quality Improvement re- flects meaningful benefits for the infants and families cared for by the Level IVNICU at Manning Family Children’s — the only neonatal ICU in Louisiana with every med- ical and surgical specialty under one roof. Through structured quality improve- ment methods, multidisciplinary collab- oration, and family partnership, the team implemented practice changes that pro- duced meaningful, measurable results for some of the hospital’s most medically frag- ile patients. n Julie Gallois, MD is an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics in neonatology at LSU Health Sciences Center and a neonatologist at Manning Family Children’s. A New Orleans native, she began her career as a NICU nurse before returning to medical school. She completed medical school, residency, chief residency, and fellowship at LSUHSC. She is board-certified in pediatrics and neonatal- perinatal medicine, with clinical interests in quality improvement,medical education,and breastfeeding medicine needs. This included evaluating when and how care activities were clustered, reduc- ing unnecessary disturbances, increasing staff awareness around sleep protection, and closely measuring outcomes to ensure changes were effective. The team tracked data over time to confirm that improve- ments were meaningful and sustainable. Following implementation of the SNOOZE protocol, interventions per pa- tient night decreased approximately 50% within one week of the project launch, exceeding the project aim, and have re- mained stable more than eight months fol- lowing the initial roll-out. Rather than focusing only on survival or respiratory stability, the project em- phasized long-term brain development and overall quality of life. The result was measurable improvement in care practices that support healthier neurodevelopment for medically fragile newborns. A Multidisciplinary Approach to Better Sleep Success was driven by many factors, in- cluding engaging from the beginning key stakeholders such as night team nurses; collaborating with the BPD and devel- opmental therapy teams, which allowed for effective sharing of expertise and re- sources; involving family partners to en- sure meaningful and relevant project im- plementation; and optimizing electronic health record tools for improved commu- nication, documentation clarity, and over- all coordination. Critical to the project’s success was the involvement of family partners. A fami- ly-centered quality improvement model is built on the idea that families are essential members of the care team, especially in the NICU. Their involvement helps ensure that SLEEP is critical for all of us, but preterm infants depend on it for neurodevelop- ment. The typically noisy, bright, and busy environments within NICU settings can be disruptive to infant sleep. To help ad- dress this, the neonatology team at Man- ning Family Children’s recently launched a quality improvement project based on the SNOOZE protocol to reduce sleep disrup- tion for infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Protecting Sleep for the Most Vulnerable Infants Infants with BPD, a serious lung con- dition that primarily affects premature babies, often require prolonged stays in the NICU and are especially vulnerable to developmental challenges. Data indicated that the BPD rates are higher at Manning Family Children’s than at other centers, reflecting the hospital’s role as a referral center for the highest-risk infants. The neonatology team identified that frequent disruptions in the NICU environ- ment, including routine caregiving activi- ties, noise, and handling, were interfering with the restorative sleep that is critical for brain growth and healing. The team aimed to decrease noxious stimuli events during a protected sleep window by 30% in babies with BPD within a six-month period using the SNOOZE protocol: • S leep protection, • N ICU babies with BPD, • O ptimal environment, • O vercoming disruptions, • Z ero unnecessary interventions, and • E nsuring developmental support. Using this protocol, the team redesigned aspects of daily care to better protect infant sleep while still meeting complex medical