NICQ: Newborn Improvement Collaborative for Quality
Small groups, custom measurement, and enhanced collaboration support improvement of focused projects in this two-year program.
Trust and Transparency in Small Groups
The most important element of NICQ is the environment of honesty and humility that makes collaborative improvement possible.
Homerooms of 8-10 teams from across North America (and possibly the world) focused on similar areas of improvement foster a culture of collaboration and openness.
In frequent meetings and conversations with faculty, peers, family partners, and the homeroom as a whole, multidisciplinary teams share effective practices, policies, and change ideas.
By committing to data-transparency, a data-driven and evidence-based approach, and rigorous quality improvement methodology, NICQ teams aspire to establish sustainable improvements that contribute to the evolution of newborn care for all.
The Role of Families
Infants and families are at the center of everything we do. Every decision we make and every improvement to practices and policies that NICQ teams implement can affect a family for their entire lifetime.
The VON NICQ collaborative and the teams within it partner with families to ensure the family experience is represented, valued, and enhanced during each improvement cycle.
Family partners are fully empowered members of each NICQ team. These contributing members bring their lived experience to the team and inform the trajectory of a team’s improvement.
Supporting Rigorous Improvement
Structured improvement processes and QI fundamentals support NICQ teams’ rigorous pursuit of better outcomes and experiences for infants and families.
Centers enrolled in NICQ will access the VON QI Foundations course for staff in every department of the hospital. Teams may partner with colleagues in Labor and Delivery, Obstetrics, Follow Up, and other departments or referring hospitals. Building a foundation of QI fundamentals for all staff spurs improvement across all phases of care.
Expert faculty guide teams in QI methodology, partnering with families, and clinical application of evidence.
Teams work toward measurable improvement through incremental changes using a structured “sequence to achieve change.”
VON Award for Excellence in Quality Improvement
The annual VON Award for Excellence in Quality Improvement recognizes VON member teams who demonstrate dedication to our shared core values of quality improvement: measurement, evidence, families, equity, and collaboration.
Teams participating in the All Care is Brain Care collaborative (NICQ/iNICQ) are eligible to apply.
NICQ 2025-2026: All Care is Brain Care
Why Focus on Brain Care?
While we continue to improve neonatal survival rates, we cannot do so at the expense of or without a clear focus on our ability to safeguard the full potential of each infant.
All care we provide must consider an especially vulnerable and important organ: the developing brain.
By exploring evidence and implementing better practices, we can ensure that all care we provide benefits the brain.
All Care is Brain Care Program Structure
With the aim to prevent injury, protect normal maturation and development, and promote positive experiences and relationships, we support teams with:
- potentially better practices/change ideas and clinical examples
- measurement plans and reporting
- foundational QI resources
- consultation and collaboration with care experts and other teams
Choose an Improvement Focus
Use these support materials to decide on your improvement topic and make the case for participating in the collaborative.
- Practice Gap Assessments (available on each topic page)
- Nightingale Reporting Data Items
- Senior Leader Package (customizable PowerPoint)
- Return on Investment Evidence of Participation in VON QI
Why Approach Brain Care with VON?
More than 900 teams participating in VON QI for over 25 years have demonstrated remarkable improvements in clinical outcomes, substantial cost savings, and progress in addressing disparities and promoting family-centered care.
Improvement in VON collaboratives is data-driven (with audits conducted by VON), and based in evidence. Our approach to quality improvement encompasses the entire care team, including parents, and is based on foundational principles that teams have found effective in sustaining improvement.
Collaborative Spotlight
Lessons for new members to accelerate their improvement project
Curated lessons from previous “All Care is Brain Care” webinars focus on key areas of the quality improvement collaborative. Lessons span across multiple content areas including:
- Families as Partners
- Positioning and Handling and Skin-to-Skin
- Teamwork and Culture
- Acquired Brain Injury
- Measurement
Continuing education (CME/CNE) credits for unlimited staff are available after completing each lesson. Collaborative Spotlight lessons range from 0.25 to 0.75 CME/CNE.
Features, Cost and Enrollment
NICQ enrollment includes access to all Quality Circle programs and benefits.
To enroll your center in NICQ or for more information, please contact John Lester for more information.
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