Common Challenges and Identified Solutions for State Newborn Screening Programs during COVID-19 Pandemic

Newborn Screening Laboratory, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53706, USA

Genetics and Metabolism Division, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53792, USA

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Center for Human Genomics and Precision Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53705, USA

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G2S Corporation/CDC Newborn Screening and Molecular Biology Branch, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA

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Department of Pediatrics, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY 11040, USA

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Departments of Pediatrics and Cardiology, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY 11549, USA

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Center for Congenital and Inherited Disorders, Iowa Department of Health, Des Moines, IA 50319, USA

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Division of Genetics, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12201, USA

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Department of Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Can Ficicioglu

Int. J. Neonatal Screen. 2022, 8(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijns8010007

Received: 30 November 2021 / Revised: 6 January 2022 / Accepted: 11 January 2022 / Published: 18 January 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact on Newborn Screening Research, Clinical Care and Public Health)

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Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, state newborn screening programs faced challenges to ensure this essential public health program continued to function at a high level. In December 2020, the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases held a workshop to discuss these common challenges and solutions. Newborn screening officials described challenges including short staffing across the entire program, collection and transport of specimens, interrupted follow-up activities, and pilot study recruitment. To address these challenges, state programs implemented a wide variety of solutions to maintain the high standards of newborn screening. To address staffing issues, newborn screening programs, public health laboratories, and hospitals all cross-trained personnel, worked to manage staff stress, and established essential functions. Other solutions included working with courier companies to ensure the timely pick-up of specimen, creating educational materials for hospital staff, and the creation of hybrid recruitment models for pilot studies. Implementing the lessons discussed throughout this paper can help to prepare for the next public health emergencies to ensure that a program that interacts with millions of families every year and saves the lives of thousands of children every year is minimally impacted. View Full-Text

Keywords: newborn screening; COVID-19; pilot studies; follow-up services; public health laboratories

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Simon, D.; Broadbridge, E.; Baker, M.; Gaviglio, A.; Gruber, D.; Piper, K.N.; Tavakoli, N.P.; Sullivan, J.; Kennedy, A. Common Challenges and Identified Solutions for State Newborn Screening Programs during COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Neonatal Screen. 2022, 8, 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijns8010007

AMA Style

Simon D, Broadbridge E, Baker M, Gaviglio A, Gruber D, Piper KN, Tavakoli NP, Sullivan J, Kennedy A. Common Challenges and Identified Solutions for State Newborn Screening Programs during COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Neonatal Screening. 2022; 8(1):7. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijns8010007

Chicago/Turabian Style

Simon, Dylan, Elizabeth Broadbridge, Mei Baker, Amy Gaviglio, Dorota Gruber, Kimberly N. Piper, Norma P. Tavakoli, Jamie Sullivan, and Annie Kennedy. 2022. "Common Challenges and Identified Solutions for State Newborn Screening Programs during COVID-19 Pandemic" International Journal of Neonatal Screening 8, no. 1: 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijns8010007

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Common Challenges and Identified Solutions for State Newborn Screening Programs during COVID-19 Pandemic

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