Elevating the quality of care for Virginia’s late preterm infants.

Late Preterm Infants

Born between 34 weeks, 0 days and 36 weeks, 6 days of gestational age, late preterm infants are the fastest-growing subset of neonates. Risk of infant mortality in late preterm births is higher than term births.

Late Preterm Infant Statistics in Virginia

Flip the boxes to uncover what these numbers represent.

72%

72%

of all preterm births in Virginia are considered a late preterm infant.

7%

7%

of all births in Virginia are considered late preterm.

These statistics are based on data from 2018-2024.

LPI Initiative

Our Goal

The LPI Initiative will create a multidisciplinary hospital-based community of learning in which participants share care policies, workflows, and clinical practices to increase awareness of this unique population and improve outcomes.

How does it work?

Learning is driven by hospitals collaborating with one another to share how they address caring for late preterm infants challenges. Topics for each session were selected in advance based on the literature and later confirmed through participant survey results. Meetings provide a space for hospitals to exchange achievements, share insights, discuss evidence‑based practices, and lessons learned.

As of May 2026, 5 hospitals have started to elevate care of the LPI by reviewing their policies and protocols and making plan for change.

Timeline

Shared results of first LPI NICU admission criteria survey with participating hospitals

Recruited/onboarded hospitals for second phase of LPI project

First TA Call Project Kickoff Meeting

Second LPI survey on nursery site characteristics went out to Level I and SCN/NICUs

Reviewed nursery site characteristic survey, introduced the clinical topic of thermoregulation with corresponding survey

Project continues with monthly data collection from completed hospital surveys by clinical topic, TA Calls continue monthly

Project ends with facility storyboards to highlight project successes and results presented at the 10th annual summit by a facility champion

Team

Faculty Lead: Bea Shikani, MD, MHS, FAAP, FABPM

Faculty Member: Barbara Snapp, DNP, APRN, NNP-BC

Neonatal Advisory Committee Co-Chair: Lori Dippold, NNP-BC

Augusta Health

Bon Secours The Birth Place Mary Immaculate

Bon Secours Mercy Health Southside Medical Center

Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center

Bon Secours St. Mary’s Medical Center

Carilion Clinic

Carilion Roanoke Memorial

Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital

Fauquier Health Hospital

HCA Henrico Doctor’s Hospital

HCA Lewis Gale Medical Center

HCA Stone Springs Hospital

Inova Fairfax

Mary Washington

Sentara Careplex

Sentara Leigh

Sentara Rockingham Medical Center

Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center

Sentara Princess Anne

Sentara Williamsburg

Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital

Sentara Obici

UVA Prince William Medical Center

UVA Culpeper

VCU Community Memorial

VCU Medical Center

9

Hospital Systems

24

Hospitals

50%

All Virginia Birth Hospitals

Participated in the 2026 site characteristics survey.

Themes of the LPI Initiative

Identified in the 2026 site characteristics survey, and addressed during monthly LPI calls with survey data.

Thermo-regulation

Thermo-regulation

Skin-to-skin, isolette use, temperature instability.

The Thermoregulation Survey has been completed by 21 hospitals and 23 nurseries (10 Level 1s, 13 SCN/NICUs).

Hyper-bilirubinemia

Hyper-bilirubinemia

When to treat, lab values, management.

The Hypoglycemia Survey was completed by 15 hospitals and 16 nurseries (6 Level 1s, 10 SCN/NICUs).

Hypo-glycemia

Hypo-glycemia

Feeding, glucose gel use, IV management

Feeding & Nutrition

Feeding & Nutrition

Breastfeeding support, supplementation

Discharge Planning

Your Content Goes Here

Discharge Planning

Criteria, feeding success, growth, parental education

Community of Learning

The Late Preterm Infant (LPI) Initiative, launched in early 2026, aims to cultivate a community of learning to improve care practices and outcomes for late preterm infants. Health professionals from Virginia hospitals have join to exchange insights, identify challenges with caring for this unique population, and highlight evidence-based practices that improve outcomes.

Those interested in participating should email us by clicking the button below.

Frequently Asked Questions

The LPI Community of Learning Project started in February 2026 with 24 hospitals. It is a 9 month project but is still open to birth hospitals with a Level 1 nursery, Special Care Nursery, and/or a NICU (Level II-IV) nursery. Hospitals with more than one level of care nursery can participate in the project but not all nurseries have to participate, e.g. a Level 1 nursery can participate even if their NICU does not. A birth hospital is one that has a labor and delivery unit on site. A Level I nursery or Well-Baby Nursery cares for healthy, stable infants (35–week gestation or greater). Level II nursery is considered a Special Care Nursery and can provide care for infants born prematurely at least 32–weeks gestation and weighing > 1500 g. Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit can care for infants born at all gestational ages and birth weights and a Level IV NICU can do all Level III requirements and perform surgical repairs of complex congenital or acquired conditions and perform extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).  

The project was presented at the VNPC 9th Annual Summit in October 2025, interested birth hospitals completed an interest form with point of contact for their hospital, emails were sent to all birth hospital points of contact with an invitation to join the kickoff meeting held in February, 59 individuals attended, follow up emails were sent to encourage them to complete the nursery site characteristic survey and subsequent clinical topic surveys. REDCap survey links and TA Call meeting invites were emailed to interested hospitals points of contact.  

TA Calls are the first Thursday of each month from 1-2pm, beginning Feb. 5 through October 1, 2026. 

Contact us at: info@goVNPC.org 

Only aggregate survey results are collected through REDCap. No institutional or patient information is obtained and there is no link to any hospital electronically. As a quality improvement project, institutional review board review is not required. There is no compensation for taking the surveys and completing each survey indicates consent to participate. The first survey covered nursery site characteristics, subsequent surveys will cover care practices of various clinical topics to include: thermoregulation, hypoglycemia, hyperbilirubinemia, feeding/nutrition and discharge planning/criteria. Results of each survey is reported back in aggregate form to the participating hospitals at each monthly TA Call. The project ends October 1, 2026 with participating nurseries sharing their outcomes through storyboards.   

After completion of the project on October 1, 2026, a synopsis of the project may be shared at the VNPC 10th Annual Summit with facility champions sharing their specific quality improvement outcomes. Information may also be available on the VNPC website at www.goVNPC.org.  

If you still have questions regarding the LPI Community of Learning project, contact us at: info@goVNPC.org