Family Birthplace Center Earns Illinois Perinatal Quality Award

The Family Birthplace Center at West Suburban Medical center proudly received its second award of the year from the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative for outstanding achievements related to the Maternal Newborns affected by Opiates initiative. The most recent award was received in late October and followed a similar award presented in May. In both cases, West Suburban was recognized for the quality of data collected concerning parents affected by substance use as well as the follow-up provided to this vulnerable population.

“We won for our sustained efforts on decreasing medication treatment for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS),” said Denise Massey, MSN-Ed, RNC, director of the Family Birthplace Center (pictured). “We were also recognized for our work in screening patients prenatally, getting them into treatment, and NARCAN® counseling. These were the main drivers in the initiative. We are in sustainability mode with this initiative.”

Working with hospital-based teams, the Illinois Perinatal Quality Initiative (ILPQC) in 2018 launched a statewide neonatal initiative to implement American Academy of Pediatric recommended guidelines for Opioid Exposed Newborns. ILPQC worked with hospital teams to implement system changes such as implementation of standardized assessment of NAS symptoms (e.g. Eat Sleep Console, Modified Finnegan); engaging mothers/families in optimizing non-pharmacologic care as the first line of treatment for NAS (e.g. rooming-in, breastfeeding); and coordinated discharge planning in conjunction with the care team, mother/family, and community pediatrician to improve newborn outcomes.