Vermont Oxford Network's NICQ project has taken a giant leap forward into the world of Web 2.0. NICQpedia is an online community of practice that uses wiki and social networking tools to support the improvement work of the 54 interdisciplinary teams in NICQ 2009. The site will be available to all 800 plus worldwide NICUs beginning in 2011.

The wiki side of the site already has dozens of pages supporting improvement across nine topic areas that include respiratory care, encephalopathy, design and discharge management. Participants have provided early positive reviews, but the proof will be in the application and use both as a source of improvement knowledge and a repository for improvement stories. Stay tuned.

Proceedings of the Healthcare Systems Ergonomics and Patient Safety Conference (HEPS) held last summer in Strasbourg FRANCE are available for download: index of the scientific programme.  I presented a paper on our work in the NICQ collaborative - Systematic Application of Human Factors and Ergonomics in the Neonatal ICU.

I presented at EDMONTON IV: The 4th Annual Conference on Enhancing Safety in Home, Community, and Long Term Care on March 24 to 25, 2009, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Here is a back page with references and resources pertaining to my presentation.