We are revolutionizing what it means to be a VON member by expanding and enhancing our learning community to create the largest ever improvement collaborative in neonatal care.

We have the ability to see trends in practices and outcomes across more than 1,200 member centers around the world because of the dedication and commitment of individuals like you who collect and submit VON data. Now we are harnessing the vast human resources of our network in the same spirit of connection and collaboration to advance improvement.

We have the opportunity to connect with each other across our worldwide network to share practices, protocols, guidelines, experiences, and advice. We believe that making more connections between members of our multidisciplinary community will result in improving the trends of outcomes we see across the network.

We have seen the importance of community and collaboration over thirty years of quality improvement programs for a subset of VON centers. Historically, these programs have carried an additional fee. By removing the financial barrier, we aim to make our programs more equitable and accessible for all members.

But expanding participation in the VON learning community with broad knowledge sharing is just one element of our services in 2027. We are also focusing additional quality improvement resources on a single topic that can benefit infants and families at every VON center. Our next quality improvement focus will address admission temperature for infants in the NICU.

Project Warm Welcome will officially launch in January 2027 and has the potential to be the largest coordinated quality improvement collaborative ever in neonatal care. All VON members will have access to the project’s webinars, evidence-based practices, quality improvement education, and measurement audits.

More than 50,000 infants are admitted to the NICU out of the normal temperature range of 36.5-37.5c each year – representing about 20% of infant records submitted to VON. Working together, we have the power to reduce these rates. The participation of you and your colleagues in Project Warm Welcome is vital to reach our shared goal.

In addition to the support from VON focused on thermoregulation, every member of our learning community can participate in quality improvement fundamental education. Videos guiding you through our QI process will help you and your team develop a shared understanding of QI, enhance teamwork, and support involvement of families.

These videos and the rest of the resources supporting your involvement in Project Warm Welcome and the VON learning community will be available in January 2027 to all members of VON by logging in to our Members’ Area.

I can’t wait to see you there, and see what we can do together.

Sincerely,

Danielle Ehret, MD, MPH
Chief Executive and Medical Officer
Vermont Oxford Network