Benefits of ANZNN membership

The ANZNN has successfully audited the care provided in all neonatal intensive care nurseries in both countries since 1994 using a de-identified standardised dataset comprising information collected during routine clinical care. Overall trends in practice and outcomes are monitored and are used for benchmarking in individual feedback reports provided to each unit. The ANZNN bi-annual meetings have also provided a forum for clinical practice discussion among all the neonatal units in both countries.

One in five health dollars allocated for maternity care in Australia in 2008 was spent on newborns admitted to neonatal units. Most is devoted to the care of high risk newborns. The risks are both immediate and long-term. Very sick and very immature babies are vulnerable to conditions that can dispose them to lifelong impairment and disability. Continuous scrutiny for evidence of best practice is needed to ensure that these babies and their families have the best chance of a healthy future.

Data

The ANZNN database contains data on all high-risk newborns in Australia and New Zealand born since 1995 and 2-3 year follow-up data on eligible infants born since 2009, thus making it a rich resource for research, audit and quality improvement.

Comprehensive Data Dictionaries are available online and are used in conjunction with a secure online Data Capture System to facilitate data validation, submission and tracking. Units who do not have an in-house database can submit data via the online forms which include real-time validation. Units with an existing database can upload an extract to the Data Capture System and receive an automated validation report, with which data can be cleaned and submitted. Further information about the ANZNN Data Capture System can be found here.

Reporting

Compiled neonatal as well as 2-3 year follow-up data are reported in the Annual Report of the Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network which is released both online and as hard copies to member units.

Each member Neonatal Intensive Care Unit also receives an Individual Unit Feedback Report for both neonatal and 2-3 year follow-up data which benchmarks the Unit against other units as well as against the ANZNN for major morbidities and outcomes.

Coming soon to this website via member login will be the ability for members to query their own data against the ANZNN.

Clinical practice improvement

The ANZNN has a newly formed Clinical Practice Improvement (CPI) initiative which will enable near real-time benchmarking of selected morbidities across member neonatal intensive care units.

Related pages

Member units

Contact

Email: anznn@unsw.edu.au