Tag Archives: newborn screening

Local Hospital Acknowledged by DHEC Newborn Screening Program for Becoming Champions of Satisfactory Dried Blood Spot Collection

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Newborn screening is a state public health service intended to identify infants who may be at an increased risk of certain disorders. Many consider newborn screening the most successful public health program in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) listed newborn screening as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the last decade.*

The term “newborn screening” refers to the collective group of conditions screened at birth including dried blood spot, hearing, and Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD). Our focus for this post is on Newborn Screening dried blood spots.

Every infant born in South Carolina is screened for unexpected medical conditions by collecting a blood sample, or blood spot specimen, from the infant’s heel 24 to 48 hours after birth. Five blood spots are obtained from approximately 57,000 infants born in South Carolina every year. Once dried and packaged, those blood spots are sent to the South Carolina Public Health Laboratory, where they are assessed for proper testing criteria also known as a satisfactory specimen collection.

If the laboratory deems the collection as unsatisfactory, those specimens are rejected, and the lab is unable to test for more than 50 disorders that are identifiable during the newborn period. Many of these disorders are time-critical or life-threatening. A repeat specimen is then requested, and a pediatrician, hospital, or health department is tasked with recollecting the specimen. This process can lead to a critical time delay of identifying an infant with a time critical disorder, timely diagnosis and treatment. Getting it right the first time, every time is important for all babies born in South Carolina.

 

In June 2019, the Newborn Screening Program, along with partners from the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA), traveled to McLeod Health Clarendon in Manning, SC. This recent visit was to recognize the hospital staff for achieving 100% satisfactory blood spot specimens in 2018. When the nurse manager, Debi, received a call from DHEC to acknowledge her facility’s accomplishment, she was pleasantly surprised. She revealed that her staff began to champion their newborn screening blood spot collection after attending the DHEC “First Time, Every Time” dried blood spot collection training workshop.

The processes implemented after the training guided them along a journey for success. Here is what Debi had to say: “I could not be prouder of my diligent and conscientious Women’s Services team at McLeod Health Clarendon; they truly exemplify our mission of providing excellence in healthcare! We would also like to thank the SC DHEC newborn screening team for making such a positive impact in the health care of all South Carolina newborns!” -Debi Love-Ballard, R.N., Director of McLeod Health Clarendon’s Women and Infant Services.

DHEC Group Pic for Newborn Screening Awards

McLeod Health Clarendon was the only South Carolina hospital to accomplish the goal of 100% satisfactory bloodspot specimen collection in 2018.  Approximately 400 infants received their results in a timely manner without experiencing a repeat collection process.

Congratulations McLeod Health Clarendon. Their impact on the babies born in their community is a true representation of DHEC’s vision of Healthy People, Healthy Communities in South Carolina.

For more information about newborn screening, visit https://scdhec.gov/health-professionals/lab-certification-services/newbornscreening and https://www.babysfirsttest.org/.

* Koppaka, R Ten great public health achievements – United States, 2001–2010. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly. Rep. 2011;60(19):619–623

From Other Blogs: Health care workers and flu, child nutrition, radon & more

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A collection of health and environmental posts from other governmental blogs.

Healthcare Personnel Working with Flu-like Illness

Most of the United States is experiencing widespread and intense influenza activity. Indicators used to track influenza-like-activity are higher than what was seen during the peak of the 2014-2015 season, the most recent season characterized as being of “high” severity. A NIOSH study recently published in the American Journal of Infection Control found that more than 40 percent of health care personnel with influenza-like-illness (ie, fever and cough or sore throat) continued to work while sick during the 2014-2015 influenza season. — From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) NOSH Science Blog

Child Nutrition Goes Digital: Food and Nutrition Service Launches First Food Buying Guide Mobile App

The start of a new year is a perfect opportunity to assess your normal ways of doing business and adopt resolutions that will help you save time, money, or even frustration. Child nutrition program operators can now resolve to do just that with the launch of Food and Nutrition Services’ first mobile application, the Food Buying Guide (FBG) Mobile App.

The FBG Mobile App represents a major step forward in the agency’s commitment to customer service, providing key information at the fingertips of child nutrition program operators so they can serve wholesome, nutritious, and tasty meals to our nation’s children. — From the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) blog

Radon: We Track That!

CDC’s Tracking Network connects people with vital information on a variety of health and environmental topics. You can use data and information collected about radon to help determine individual and community risk for radon and inform community interventions.  — From the CDC’s Your Health — Your Environment Blog

Progress in Public Health Genomics Depends on Measuring Population Level Outcomes

Public health genomics is a relatively young field concerned with the effective and responsible translation of genomic science into population health benefits. In the past few years, the field has witnessed the emergence of several state public health genomics programs beyond the traditional domain of newborn screening. The field has focused on preventing disease and death from three tier 1 autosomal dominant conditions, collectively affecting more than 2 million people in the United States (Lynch syndrome, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, and familial hypercholesterolemia). — From the CDC’s Genomics and Health Impact blog

Newborn Screening Awareness Month: Our Best Foot Forward

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Newborn Staff Blog Photo 1

Newborn Screening and First Sound/Hearing Screening Program Staff
(Left to right): Tanya Spells, MS, MT(ASCP) Newborn Screening Program Manager, Tara Carroll, MCD, CCC/A First Sound Program Manager, Jyotsna Achanta, First Sound Program Data Manager, Dr. Eileen Walsh, Pediatric Medical Consultant, Janice Eichelberger, First Sound Program Coordinator, Dana Smith, R.N. Newborn Screening Follow Up Program Coordinator, Jennifer Schlub, RD, LD, Nutritionist IV                  

We celebrate Newborn Screening Awareness Month each September as more than just a casual observance. Screening babies for certain serious health conditions at birth is critical.

Identifying babies with potential health conditions at birth makes it possible to begin early intervention and/or treatment before harmful effects happen. Newborn Screening includes testing for inherited disorders, hearing loss and congenital heart defects.

Newborn screening in South Carolina

In South Carolina, we screen nearly 57,000 babies each year. So far in 2017, the newborn bloodspot screening program has identified 76 infants with inherited disorders and 28 cases of Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) have been reported by SC hospitals. Annually, 75-100 infants are identified with some form of hearing loss.  

The newborn screen originally began testing for just one disorder, Phenylketonuria (PKU). The South Carolina newborn screening test panel now includes 53 different disorders, such as Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle Cell disease and trait, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), Congenital Hypothyroidism, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, hearing loss, (CCHD), and multiple Inborn Errors of Metabolism. For a complete list and description please visit babysfirsttest.org/newborn-screening/states/south-carolina.

You may wonder how South Carolina came to screen for these disorders. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC) uses an evidence-based process to evaluate specific disorders for addition to the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP).  Most US newborn screening programs follow the RUSP in determining the conditions for which infants are screened.

The programs that conduct the screenings

The Newborn Hearing Program, First Sound, assesses infants to detect hearing loss and every birthing hospital in the state checks infants for Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) to ensure newborns’ hearts are healthy.

The Newborn Screening Blood Spot Program (NBS) screens infants for inherited disorders via a panel of laboratory tests. A few drops of blood are collected 24-48 hours after birth by pricking an infant’s heel. Once the sample is collected, it is sent to the DHEC Public Health Laboratory, Newborn Screening section for testing. The NBS laboratory receives approximately 1,200 specimens each week.  The NBS Blood Spot Program operates six days a week, Monday-Saturday, most weeks of the year.

Newborn Staff Blog Photo 2 (3)

Public Health Newborn Screening Laboratory Director, Supervisor, and Staff

The Newborn Screening Lab has a group of laboratory technologists that performs the screening tests. Testing is initiated the day the specimen is received and most testing is completed within two days. The laboratory mails a final laboratory report for normal and abnormal test results to the individual or facility who submitted the specimen and to the physician of record. Any abnormal result is repeated for verification before follow-up staff is notified.

The Newborn Screening Program staff work closely with the pediatric medical consultant, primary healthcare providers, medical specialists and health departments around the state. Providers are notified of abnormal results by follow-up staff to ensure infants are getting the care required for the specific disorder which they screen positive. These patients are followed until a diagnosis is made by either the primary care provider or specialist to whom they are referred.

New disorders under consideration for addition to our test panel are Pompe Disease, Mucopolysaccharidosis Type 1 (MPS 1) and X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD).

For more information

Keep up with current newborn screening initiatives in our quarterly newsletter, Footnotes. For more information about newborn screening in South Carolina, contact us at newbornscreening@dhec.sc.gov.

Newborn Screening Awareness Month: Testing at Birth is Critical

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Dana Smith, R.N.
Program Coordinator
Newborn Screening Follow Up Program

No matter how healthy a newborn might look, it’s critical that they be checked for unexpected medical conditions. When such conditions are detected early, diagnosed and treated newborns stand a much better chance of avoiding disabilities — or worse — and living a full, productive life.

The blood test that checks for hidden health disorders in newborns is called “newborn screening.” September is Newborn Screening Awareness Month, a time set aside to recognize the importance of early testing.

Not just the PKU test

The Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) newborn screening program, which currently screens for 53 disorders, originally began with testing just for phenylketonuria (PKU). That test checks whether the baby’s body can process phenylalanine, which is found in many protein-rich foods and some sweeteners. Phenylalanine can build up in the blood and tissues of a baby with PKU, resulting in brain damage. The test panel has since evolved to include disorders such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait, severe combined immunodeficiency, congenital hypothyroidism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and multiple inborn errors of metabolism. For a complete list and description, please visit www.scdhec.gov/newbornmetabolicscreening.

In South Carolina, newborn screening averages around 54,000 births per year.  This blood test is administered 24-48 hours after birth by pricking an infant’s heel and collecting five blood spots on a special filter paper. The specimen is then sent to the DHEC laboratory for testing.

You may wonder how our state determines what disorders it will include on the newborn screening test panel. The Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children uses an evidence-based process to evaluate candidate conditions for addition to the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP).  Most US newborn screening programs follow the RUSP in determining the conditions for which infants are screened.

The newborn screening follow-up program has staff members who work closely with the pediatric medical consultant and specialists around the state. Providers are notified of abnormal results by follow-up staff to ensure infants are getting the care required for the specific disorder for which they screen positive. These patients are followed until a diagnosis has been made, by either the primary care provider or the specialist to whom they are referred.

New data system on the way

The DHEC laboratory is implementing a new data system that will soon be in place and allow for better reporting to all newborn screening healthcare providers. This system will allow physicians to access their patients’ newborn screening records through a secure web portal and provide better data analysis for the DHEC newborn screening program. As the newborn screening panel expands, the new data system will allow an easier transition and implementation of screening for new disorders recommended on the RUSP.

If you have questions please feel free to contact us at smithdm@dhec.sc.gov or schlubjk@dhec.sc.gov.

Expanding Newborn Screening

By Jamie Shuster

(The following post was originally sent as an email to DHEC Public Health staff on 1/26/14.)

Newborn-Screening-Baby-FeetYou may have read in the news today that we’re expanding our newborn screening program (NBS) to help detect more life-threatening conditions faster.

Currently, our state laboratory screens for 28 metabolic conditions that are recommended by the March of Dimes and the American College of Medical Genetics, as well as 24 secondary metabolic conditions that can cause severe problems if not found very early in life.

Thursday, we announced that we’ll soon join just 19 other states in screening newborns for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), a rare and potentially fatal disorder characterized by an inability to fight infections. Continue reading →