Newborn Screening Education

Newborn Screening (NBS) Collection Training

The NBS Program is committed to the improvement of specimen collection and continues to work with all birthing hospitals, as well as clinics across the state, to assist with training needs. In addition, the NBS Program follows the approved standards for newborn screening specimen collection as outlined by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute® (CLSI). If you are interested in training please contact the Newborn Screening Program at 866-928-6755.

Newborn Screening Collection Guidelines

Newborn Screening Collection Guidelines from the ADPH Bureau of Clinical Laboratories are now available in full at the link below.

• Newborn Screening Blood Collection Guidelines

Newborn Screening Training Video Series

• Alabama Newborn Screening Program: 2018 Program Overview
• National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM) Interactive Web Based Newborn Hearing Screening Training Curriculum (CEUs available)
• Newborn Pulse Oximetry Screening to Detect Critical Congenital Heart Defects

Newborn Screening Webinars and Podcast

• Preventing Morbidity and Mortality in Children with Congenital Hypothyroidism and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
• Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI)
• Severe Combined Immunodeficiency: Diagnosis and Treatment
• Sickle Cell Disease and Other Hemoglobinopathies: Newborn Screening and Beyond
• NEW: Newborn Pulse Oximetry Screening to Detect Critical Congenital Heart Defects
• Pediatric Grand Rounds Series Advance in Newborn Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatments for Spinal Muscular Atrophy
• Pediatric Grand Rounds Series Dr. Lane Rutledge and Brayden Moore Pediatric Neurology Memorial Lectureship Leukodystrophies
• Congenital Heart Defects: An Overview of the Most Common Birth Defect
• American Academy of Pediatrics - Newborn Screening Podcast

There is no charge to register or participate in ADPH conferences; however, non-ADPH employees are charged a fee to receive CE Certificates. Nurses may watch the On Demand version of the program for up to two years and receive continuing education.

Please follow CloudCME instructions to create an account to view the spinal muscular atrophy ground round series.  Viewers are required to take a post-test to claim continuing education credit. A certificate will automatically be sent via email from the CloudCME site.

What to Expect From Your Baby's First Test

Newborn screening is one of the many things that will happen within the first few days after a baby's birth. Parents-to-be may have questions about newborn screening. The video below explains what to expect during a baby's first test, and walks parents through the heel stick, hearing, and pulse ox screenings. 

A Reminder of Why We Do Newborn Screening - NewSTEPs 360

NewSTEPs 360, a project at the Colorado School of Public Health in partnership with the Association of Public Health Laboratories, created the video to show appreciation to the newborn screening staff who have worked hard to save babies' lives.

Baby's First Test - Education Toolkit

Baby's First Test has developed an education toolkit for understanding and communicating newborn screening results. Resources in the toolkit may be shared with healthcare providers and families to assist them in the process of understanding, delivering, and navigating a presumptive positive or out-of-range newborn screening result.

Communicating newborn screening results can be a complex process for health professionals.  Baby's First Test put the toolkit together to help alleviate the gap between what is understood and the reality of a potential health crisis the child may be facing. Newborn screening is a screening tool to alert a provider of a potential condition and not intended to be diagnostic or confirmatory. Additional testing is typically required to confirm a baby has a newborn screening condition.

Newborn Screening Resources Related to Blood Collection

• Abraded Blood Collection Form
• Contaminated Blood Collection Form
• Inadequate Blood Collection Form
• Unevenly Saturated Collection Form

Newborn Screening Specimen Collection Video

The first fifteen minutes of the following video detail the processing of newborn screening specimens submitted to the State Health Laboratory. Proper handling of the specimens after collection and approved protocols for mailing are reviewed. The last five minutes of the video show the actual collection of a newborn screening specimen at a pediatrician's office. The positioning of the infant and choosing front or back application of the blood to the filter paper are both personal preferences.

Alabama Newborn Screening Laboratory Video

Continuing Education

The Alabama Department of Public Health has several training opportunities for health professionals offering continuing education through the Alabama Public Health Training Network (ALPHTN). ALPHTN utilizes a variety of distance learning technologies to reach public and allied health employees throughout the state and the country.

New Continuing Education Credit Requirements

Go to the Alabama Public Health Training Network website.

• Locate the program of interest and click on the title to go to the program page.
• Note that there are several links in a table on the program page, including links for handouts, a sign-in sheet, and an evaluation form.
• To receive continuing education credit, print out and complete the sign-in sheet and evaluation form for each topic and mail them to:
  
  Bureau of Professional and Support Services
  Alabama Department of Public Health
  Suite 1040
  P.O. Box 303017
  Montgomery, Alabama 36130-3017

• Upon receipt of the continuing education certificate from the Alabama Department of Public Health, nurses should upload the information into their individual continuing education record on the Alabama Board of Nursing website for credit.