“At Seton, we write safety into every policy and procedure.”
Marcie Moynihan, RN, MSN, CNS
NICU Clinical Nurse Specialist, Seton Medical Center Austin

In 2003, the first national reports to reveal patient safety issues shocked the health care community. “Safety really hadn’t been in the national dialogue before, and it wasn’t taught in nursing schools,” Marcie Moynihan recalls.  “As soon as the reports came out, Seton just jumped on the safety issue right away, because it was the right thing to do.” 

A neonatal nurse at Seton since 1984 and a clinical nurse specialist in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) since 2005, Marcie has been involved in both direct patient care and in behind-the-scenes work to improve the safety of mothers and premature babies. “As a staff nurse, I knew I could make a difference in the lives of my patients.  But in this position, I can make a difference to a greater number of people,” she says.

Marcie has been a member of interdisciplinary teams, including Seton physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and other specialists, working to provide evidence-based care for moms and premature babies.   The effort has evaluated the minute details of how care is provided, identified areas of highest risk, spelled out goals for better outcomes and recommended procedural changes to get there. “We write safety into every policy and procedure,” Marcie says.

Because premature babies are particularly fragile and develop complications easily, the team targeted such goals as decreasing the need for blood transfusions, antibiotics and ventilator use.  For example, by improving the procedure for inserting an IV into the smallest newborns of 2.2 pounds or less, bloodstream infections dropped by 20 percent – to zero.  By monitoring oxygen to ensure optimum levels, the incidence of chronic lung disease decreased from 37 percent in 2007 to 15 percent in 2010.  In addition, Seton safety initiatives related to labor and delivery procedures have won national recognition for reducing preventable birth traumas to virtually zero.

“Whenever we see statistics that we consider amazing, we share them with the staff and celebrate those accomplishments, and it just keeps getting better.”