Kristin R. Melton, MD

I am a practicing neonatologist and see patients within the Cincinnati Children’s Regional Center for Newborn Intensive Care. Here, I care for newborns with complex congenital anomalies and genetic defects.

In addition to caring for patients, I conduct research on patient safety and unplanned extubations.

I am particularly interested in studying ways to improve medication safety in intensive care unit environments. This is one way we can significantly influence the course of care for patients.

I take a bioinformatics approach to integrate multiple medical devices to identify medication errors quickly and intervene. Our team has developed computerized algorithms that can be used in real-time to recognize medication errors and prompt providers to respond.

I also lead a quality improvement team that focuses on reducing unplanned extubations in the ICU environment. Through efforts to standardize care, we have shown a significant reduction in unplanned extubations and patient harm.

Neonatology is an area where you get to see cutting-edge medicine at work — where research reaches the patients you serve. I love that I have the opportunity to help a critically ill baby and see them return to health to be discharged to their family.