This November, the first digital implementation workshop of the European Standards of Care for Newborn Health (ESCNH) took place with two of our best practice countries Italy and Portugal, which have made extraordinary efforts to implement the ESCNH in their country such as translating the entire set of standards, in the case of Italy (for more information regarding the translation please read our news article). The aim of the workshop was first and foremost to create an international and interdisciplinary platform for exchanging experiences in order to learn from one another and to reflect on and strengthen the national implementation strategies.

Both countries were represented by their national neonatology associations, NIDCAP representatives, and nurse associations as well as national parent organisations. In total, 24 individuals including three representatives from EFCNI took part in the interdisciplinary workshop.

© EFCNI

Content of the workshop:

After a first introductory round, the Italian implementation Task Force of the ESCNH (for more information regarding the Task Force please see our guest article) represented by Dr Gina Ancora (SIN, NIDCAP Rimini) shared their past and upcoming implementation activities. This presentation was followed by the Portuguese working group represented by Estela Coutinho (XXS), Paula Guerra (XXS), Lídia Videira (APEPEN), Dr Gabriela Mimosa (SPN), Dr Rosalina Barroso (SPN) and Dr Carmen Carvalho (SPN), who presented the Portuguese approach.

The exchange of the national implementation strategies was subsequently intensified in a breakout session where expected challenges and lessons learnt from previous activities were discussed in smaller groups lead by Silke Mader (EFCNI) and Professor Luc Zimmermann (EFCNI) before sharing the overall results of the sessions with the entire group.

As host of the workshop, Silke Mader gave insights during the virtual gathering into best practice examples and implementation activities from Dr Carmen Pallas Alonso, Head of neonatal unit at University Hospital 12 October, Asta Speicyte Radzeviciene, CEO of Neišnešiotukas – the Lithuanian parent organisation and Vilni Verner Holst Bloch, Board member of Prematurforeningen – Norwegian parent organisation.

Up next was an introduction to change management models and selected activities to implement change by Isabel Geiger, the coordinator of the ESCNH and Senior Project Manager at EFCNI. Last but not least, EFCNI’s plans for an implementation manual were shared and the content of the manual was discussed with the workshop participants.

Overall, the workshop can be seen as a great success and we warmly thank all parties involved for their vivid discussions and active participation – we are already looking forward to our follow-up meeting next year.

Upcoming workshops in 2023

If you are interested in participating in our next digital implementation workshop, please send us an email at standards@efcni.org.