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Excellence for NNICU, Care Management   In order for the MUSC Medical Center to earn national Magnet status for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, writers of MUSC’s application must provide unit and organizational examples of excellence.     These examples exemplify how MUSC strives to support a healthy work environment, healthy nurses, and healthy patient outcomes necessary to achieve magnet status. NNICU Suctioning Control (Robin Bissinger, NNP, RNC, and Cyndi Weiss, RNC, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)   “Our goal was to identify best practices and develop a uniform standard of protocol for suction-ing neonatal patients in the NNICU. A multi-disciplinary committee of physicians, nurse practitioners, staff nurses and respiratory therapists from the NNICU reviewed current literature and research on suctioning control and then greatly modified the practice in the neonatal ICU. A written protocol was developed and implemented based on what was found in the nursing/medical literature. Staff training was initiated and the practice was standardized using various creative teaching methods. The suctioning protocol we developed was presented at the APN conference in Washington, D.C., and at the NANN conference in Salt Lake City. A journal article about the protocol is in final revisions with anticipated publication in 2005.” Using a home care model to monitor bilirubin levels in early discharged infants (Glenn Richmond, R.N., Care Management, Research and Evaluation)   “Each year approximately 60 percent of the four million infants born in the United States become clinically jaundiced. Because of this, it is important that early discharged infants are monitored in the home to identify those at risk for developing complications from jaundice. Utilizing a non-invasive transcutaneous bilimeter (TCB), our home care department designed a follow-up program. Winyah Home Health monitors bilirubin levels in early discharged infants and reports the results to a neonatologist so that interventions may be implemented in the home setting. Through this effort, we hope to see decreased lengths of hospital stays, decreased emergency room visits, and a decrease in hospital readmissions.”     Friday, April 22, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.