February 24, 2025
We are proud to announce that CISSS de Laval is the first center in Quebec to adopt this program.
Interview with Nathalie Gélinas, Head of Neonatology at Cité-de-la-Santé Hospital:
"In 2021, when I arrived at CISSS de Laval as head of the neonatology department, I felt there was a need to update newborn development care practices. This is an individualized approach to care aimed at the optimal development of sick or premature newborns admitted to the neonatal unit. It is recognized worldwide as a standard of care in neonatology. This philosophy is based on the interpretation of toddlers' behaviors and the implementation of specific interventions to maximize their adaptation to life outside the womb, as well as the involvement of parents in their child's care. This type of care not only promotes and maximizes the neurosensory integration essential to their neurological development, but also reduces toxic and traumatic stress, and in some cases may even prevent long-term neurodevelopmental complications. The approach is therefore neuroprotective and focused on trauma prevention."
The training program offers three levels of certification: bronze, silver and gold.
"So I asked the developmental care team at CHU Sainte-Justine's neonatology unit to update our developmental care practices, based on the latest evidence. From the outset, we set up a Developmental Care Committee to help us make all the necessary changes and adjustments to practices for each certification. This committee meets every six to eight weeks. We review our action plan and discuss practices in the unit: success stories, issues and results of audits we've created in Safety Culture etc. The clinical leaders and ASIs who sit on this committee ensure that practices are monitored across the unit. Each certification includes two full days of training, eight hours of practical workshops across the unit, and webinars as needed afterwards to answer questions from nurses and pediatricians alike. CHUSJ also offered a one-hour training session to a Journal Club des pédiatres to present and explain the on-demand feeding protocol for premature infants. We communicate by e-mail and Teams with the training team as we progress towards certification. We receive a lot of support from CHUSJ during these certifications."
It became clear to us that we needed to harmonize teaching across our CISSS, and not just in neonatology.
"During our silver certification, we had to implement new practices in terms of safe sleep. We therefore set up a safe sleep committee made up of 2 ASIs (Immediate Senior Assistants) from the 1st line (SIPPE and Perinatality), the 4 managers from our Perinatality-Pediatrics coordination, the management consultant, two care consultants and a public health representative. We decided to offer a training program that would reach as many caregivers as possible in the CISSS de Laval to pass on information and teaching on safe sleep practices for babies under one year of age. We gave 12 one-hour training sessions. Most of the nurses in our coordination received this training. We also had the participation of stakeholders from community organizations, public health, FMGs, pediatricians and gynecologists. To ensure follow-up to this training, we will be offering it as a narrated PowerPoint presentation on ENA. In this way, all practitioners who were unable to join us for the training, as well as new hires, will be able to access it."
It may sound ambitious, but we're aiming for nothing less than excellence.
"Following CHUSJ training courses over the past two years, we are now the first center in Quebec to have achieved bronze and silver certification. Our goal now is to complete the program and obtain Gold certification. It's going to take a lot of work, but I'm not worried. Our team is so motivated and ready to go all the way with this challenge. So, the next step in this wonderful adventure is GOLD certification...in 2026..."
It's important to stress that all this work is a team effort.
"I could never have achieved all this without my executive advisor Sophie Belzile and my care advisor Alexie Bigras-Mercier, and above all the entire neonatal team who followed me on this adventure, despite all the work to be put into each certification. It's a great achievement for the neonatal team."
