Quality Improvement and Education

Responding to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Online Course

About the Course

With Responding to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome every member of your multidisciplinary team caring for infants and families will be able to develop skills to standardize care and improve outcomes for this vulnerable population.

Over nine lessons (8.25 CME/CNE credits), we introduce practices that have led to reduced length of stay and pharmacologic treatment and prepare teams to partner with families and “follow-through” to address social factors that affect long-term health outcomes.

The course is built on the experiences and successes of more than 250 teams that tested and implemented evidence-based potentially better practices to improve care for infants and mothers exposed to opioids.

View the First Lesson

How to Access the Course

This course is available to Quality Circle members and centers with an Education Subscription. Members associated with enrolled centers can find the course on the My QI Programs section of the VON member portal.

New Quality Circle Membership Inquiry

Quality Circle member programs include: iNICQ “All Care is Brain Care,” Collaborative Spotlight, Quality Improvement Foundations, and Responding to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.

Cost: $7,500

Contact Us about the Quality Circle

New Education Subscription Inquiry

Education Subscriptions include the Collaborative Spotlight, Quality Improvement Foundations, and Responding to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome courses.

Cost: Annual fees for the education subscription are dependent on NICU level.

  • Level 3 and Level 4 NICU: $1,500
  • Level 2 NICU: $500
Contact Us about an Education Subscription

New Video Series with the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare!

This four-part series developed by the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) with support from the VON examines the role healthcare providers play in collaborative initiatives to improve outcomes for infants, parents, and their families affected by prenatal substance exposure.

Responding to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Curriculum

This course includes nine video sessions worth 8.25 CME/CNE credits.

Lesson 1: NAS Landscape

  • The Prescription Opioid Epidemic and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome – A Public Health Approach
  • NAS Presentation and Typical Course

Lesson 2: Virtual Video Visit

  • Linking Attitudes with Outcomes
  • Chapter 2: The Face of Trauma
  • Chapter 3: The Birth Story
  • Chapter 4: Stories of Hope and Recovery
  • Chapter 5: The Long Road Home

Lesson 3: Family Voices

  • Family Voices – Lessons from Families Affected by Substance Abuse and NAS
  • Mothers’ Voices: Lessons from Project NESST and the Center for Early Relationship Support

Lesson 4: Substance Use

  • Family Voices – Lessons from Families Affected by Substance Abuse and NAS
  • Mothers’ Voices: Lessons from Project NESST and the Center for Early Relationship Support

Lesson 5: Assessment

  • Eat, Sleep, Console
  • Scoring Redux: Pitfalls and Perils
  • Scoring: Cases, Controversies
  • Screening and Obtaining a Complete Drug History for Substance Use in Pregnancy
  • Lactation and the Substance-Exposed Mother-Infant Dyad

Lesson 6: Feeding and Nutritional Support

  • Lactation and the Substance-Exposed Mother-Infant Dyad
  • Engaging Families in Feeding and Nutritional Support

Lesson 7: Non-Pharmacologic Strategies

  • Non-Pharmacologic Strategies for Symptom Management
  • NAS Examining the Evidence: Controversies in Pharmacologic Management
  • Navigating the Legal Landscape – Care of Infants and Families Affected by NAS and Pragmatic Strategies to Manage Challenging Family Interactions

Lesson 8: Creating a High-Reliability NAS Program

  • NAS Presentation and Typical Course
  • Improved Family-Centered Care at Lower Cost and Improvement Story: Using Standardization to Create a High Reliability NAS Program,
  • Standardizing Care to Improve Outcomes

Lesson 9: Discharge

  • NAS: Homeward Bound – Clinical Case Study in Point
  • NAS: Assessment-Based Individuals Community Connection

Faculty

Dr. Ron Abrahams

Erica Asselin

Joanna Celenza MA, MBA

Robert DiGiuseppe, MD

Nancy A. Eschbach, MSW, LCSW

Elisabeth Holland, RNC-e

Jodi Jackson, MD

Lauren Jansson, MD

Karol Kaltenbach, Ph.D

Erin L. Keels R.N., M.S., NNP-BC

Walter Kraft, MD

Jacqueline McGrath, PhD, RN, FNAP, FAAN

Lenora Marcellus RN, PhD

Steven Ondersma, PhD

Adrienne Pahl, MD

Stephen W. Patrick, MD, MPH, MS

Robert E. Schumacher, MD

Roger F. Soll, MD

Amy Sommer, MSW

Elizabeth R. Stanton, BA, MA, PA, JD

Imani Walker

Bonny Whalen, MD

Krisanna Deppen, MD

Jeffrey Horbar, MD

Community Support

Connect with other participants in this course and teams responding to neonatal abstinence syndrome. The VON Community Forum is a place to ask questions and share practices, guidelines, and new knowledge and experiences.

Visit the VON Community Forum

Turn Knowledge into Improvement!

VON Quality Circle members can participate in all courses and programs, including the iNICQ improvement collaborative. By participating in a VON collaborative, you and your team can apply structured quality improvement methodology to the lessons from this course to improve your center’s processes and practices related to opioid exposure for mothers and infants – and turn knowledge into improved outcomes for infants and families at your center.

See your Quality Circle membership options and benefits. 

Responding to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome is a benefit of Quality Circle membership