Perinatal illicit drug screening practices in mother-newborn dyads at a university hospital serving rural/semi-urban communities: translation of research to quality improvement

Abstract

Objective: To determine staff compliance with the hospital perinatal illicit drug screening-intervention and the prevalence of dyads that are not tested who present with risk factors indicating the need for testing. Methods: This is a retrospective, controlled chart review of mother/newborn dyads presenting to a university hospital for delivery services in 2002 and 2003. Group 1 included all dyads, in which the newborns were tested for illegal drugs after delivery (n = 121). Group 2 included every 25th delivery that did not qualify for Group 1 (n = 107). The documentation rate of demographic characteristics and risk factors were compared. Results: Multiple risk factors were documented in 95.9% of the Group 1 dyads and 32.7% of the Group 2 dyads (p < 0.0001). However, 50 mothers in Group 2 with risk factors, eligible for urine drug testing were not tested. In Group 2, 35.5% of newborns were eligible for drug testing, but were not tested. Twelve infants were not tested when their mothers were tested and two infants were not tested when their mothers tested positive during the study period. Conclusion: The data in the present study revealed the necessity of a staff-training program and the revision of the hospital perinatal illicit drug screening practices- intervention.

Keywords::

• Staff
• intervention
• documentation
• risk
• perinatal illicit drug exposure

Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, Medical Student Research Fund. The preliminary results were presented at the 19th San Diego Conference on Child Maltreatment 1/25–28/2005, San Diego, CA.

Declaration of Interest: The authors declaraed no conflict of interest.