A photo of Kristin Melton.

Director, Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship Program, Division of Neonatology

Associate Director, Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Division of Neonatology

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

513-803-7844

513-636-7868

Board Certified

"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."

My Biography & Research

Biography

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.

Clinical Interests

Patient safety; congenital malformations; micrognathia and upper airway obstruction

Research Interests

Patient safety; medication errors; unplanned extubation; neural crest and craniofacial malformations; surfactant biology

Academic Affiliation

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Clinical Divisions

Newborn Intensive Care NICU, Neonatology, Perinatal, Fetal Care

Research Divisions

Neonatology, Pulmonary Biology

My Education

BA: Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1991.

MD: University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE, 1995.

Residency: Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO, 1998.

Fellowship: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2001.

My Publications

The Generalizability of a Medication Administration Discrepancy Detection System: Quantitative Comparative Analysis. Kirkendall, E; Huth, H; Rauenbuehler, B; Moses, A; Melton, K; Ni, Y. JMIR Medical Informatics. 2020; 8.

Human-Based Errors Involving Smart Infusion Pumps: A Catalog of Error Types and Prevention Strategies. Kirkendall, ES; Timmons, K; Huth, H; Walsh, K; Melton, K. Drug Safety. 2020; 43:1073-1087.

Integrating and Evaluating the Data Quality and Utility of Smart Pump Information in Detecting Medication Administration Errors: Evaluation Study. Ni, Y; Lingren, T; Huth, H; Timmons, K; Melton, K; Kirkendall, E. JMIR Medical Informatics. 2020; 8.

Assessment of an Unplanned Extubation Bundle to Reduce Unplanned Extubations in Critically Ill Neonates, Infants, and Children. Klugman, D; Melton, K; Maynord, PO; Dawson, A; Madhavan, G; Montgomery, VL; Nock, M; Lee, A; Lyren, A. JAMA Pediatrics. 2020; 174.

Smart pumps improve medication safety but increase alert burden in neonatal care. Melton, KR; Timmons, K; Walsh, KE; Meinzen-Derr, JK; Kirkendall, E. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 2019; 19.

Data Challenges With Real-Time Safety Event Detection And Clinical Decision Support. Kirkendall, ES; Ni, Y; Lingren, T; Leonard, M; Hall, ES; Melton, K. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2019; 21.

Case 2: Seizures, Apnea, Lethargy, and Persistent Hiccups in a Full-Term Newborn. Arya, S; Melton, K. NeoReviews. 2019; 20:e295-e297.

Heart Rate Characteristic Index Monitoring for Early Detection of Infections in Very Low Birth Weight Infants. Moreira, D; Melton, K; Meinzen-Derr, J; Tabangin, M; Kingma, P; Schibler, K. 2019; 5.

Foxc2 is required for proper cardiac neural crest cell migration, outflow tract septation, and ventricle expansion. Inman, KE; Caiaffa, CD; Melton, KR; Sandell, LL; Achilleos, A; Kume, T; Trainor, PA. Developmental Dynamics. 2018; 247:1286-1296.

Designing and evaluating an automated system for real-time medication administration error detection in a neonatal intensive care unit. Ni, Y; Lingren, T; Hall, ES; Leonard, M; Melton, K; Kirkendall, ES. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA. 2018; 25:555-563.