Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellow Stanford University School of Medicine Sunnyvale, California, United States
Background: Disparities in substance use testing of birthing persons and newborns are well-documented, with people of color more likely to be tested for drug use. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends utilizing validated universal verbal screening for all patients. Objective: We aim to study current substance use testing patterns, evaluate and revise guidelines to reduce bias and address disparities, and determine the impact of changes on testing patterns at a single tertiary care delivery center and children’s hospital. Design/Methods: A multi-disciplinary work group was created, including obstetricians, pediatricians, neonatology attendings and fellows, social workers, and nurse practitioners. We will perform a retrospective chart review to obtain baseline, pre-intervention data in a single hospital, including infants born between 2018-2022. We will collect racial/ethnic, geographic, and language data and will exclude infants with unknown race/ethnicity and or language. In November 2023, our group plans to implement an updated substance use screening and testing policy to include more objective, less biased guidelines. We plan to compare the demographics of tested infants, compared to the demographics of all infants, before and after implementing our revised guideline. Post-implementation data will be collected from December 2023 through April 2024.
