Optimizing care for neonates with pre-natal opiate exposure, expanding capacity and supporting best practices in caring for babies in families with complex trauma and substance use disorder. - federal…

Optimizing care for neonates with pre-natal opiate exposure, expanding capacity and supporting best practices in caring for babies in families with complex trauma and substance use disorder. - federal funding helps infants in rural new mexico get cutting edge care new congressional funds allocated to a program aimed at helping healthcare providers across the state manage complex health issues during an infant's earliest stages of life is expected to support community hospitals and care-teams, especially rural, underserved areas with implementing best-practices for care of neonates with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS). The NOWS‐NM quality improvement (QI) program provides training and QI coaching to optimize care and aims to reduce unnecessary infant transports to tertiary hospitals for NOWS, support observation of uncomplicated infants with NOWS, and improve non‐ pharmacologic care for infants with NOWS. This program has a foundation of non-judgmental, trauma-informed care and supporting providers and care-systems in addressing barriers and reducing stigmatization for pregnant people and new parents with substance use disorder and complex trauma who are seeking care. With this grant funding, the goal is to expand the NOWS-NM QI capacity and evaluate the outcomes. We will be providing training to the providers and nursing staff on labor and delivery units at 2-3 hospitals. We expect to train up to 20 or 30 unduplicated individuals. We will share previously developed online educational materials, in-person didactic teaching, and hands-on trainings to support medical best-practices, including instruction in implementation of the eat sleep console (ESC) program. This approach to care is emerging as the best practice and has the benefit of emphasizing non-pharmacological care for neonates with NOWS. This grant will also support the development of lasting educational and training materials, including 3 new online modules that will reflect the most current knowledge in NOWS care. The team will also host an educational UNM symposium to disseminate best practices, updates and trainings developed through this program. Pratt-chavez CO-leads the NOWS-NM program with fellow directors DR. Alberta kong and DR. Jessie maxwell. Together, this triad worked with SEN. Martin heinrich to secure $3.9 million in congressionally directed funding, specifically to increase care for infants with NOWS. "SEN. Heinrich pushed through the funding and his team really advocated for this program," said pratt- chavez. "IT's a testament to the work that we all are doing at UNM and how important IT is." the funding will come from the substance abuse and mental health services administration (SAMHSA). Envision new mexico (ENM) has nearly 20 years of experience in offering quality improvement initiatives (QI), and education and training for health care providers in new mexico (NM) through in person, on site programs and with our telehealth program. All of our programs and initiatives reflect our commitment to implementation and dissemination of best practices and active scholarship in child and adolescent health. We work with children's healthcare providers to make sustainable changes in healthcare service delivery to improve the quality of care for children and families in new mexico. For pratt-chavez, the journey of doing this work continues to be among the most fulfilling of her career. "IT's some of the most satisfying work that I've been able to do, because IT's just such an important opportunity to collaborate with families, and IT is an honor to take care of these little people," said pratt-chavez. "I'm a general pediatrician; I specialize in coordination of care for young children with more complex health needs, and care of babies in the hospital who have opiate exposure. I developed this niche to ensure these infants with prenatal substance exposure get the best care possible," said pratt-chavez.