Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center Earns Designation for Care of Substance-Exposed Babies
Rockville, MD - Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center has earned a special designation for its commitment to care for babies impacted by substance abuse.
The hospital received the “Center of Excellence in Education and Training for Infants and Families Affected by Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS)” designation from Vermont Oxford Network (VON). VON is a nonprofit collaboration of health care professionals working to change the landscape of neonatal care. To achieve this designation, Shady Grove trained 210 healthcare providers from its women’s and children’s care teams on specialized treatments for substance-exposed infants.
Shady Grove Medical Center and 31 other hospitals enrolled in the statewide quality improvement collaborative, which was overseen by the Maryland Patient Safety Center and supported by VON. The collaborative aimed to standardize and increase the quality of care for infants and families affected by NAS, or the conditions that babies experience when withdrawing from drugs in the womb.
Caregivers from Shady Grove’s Labor & Delivery, Mother/Baby, Neonatal Intensive Care and Pediatrics units participated in the program.
“We are delighted to receive this designation for our work done to address the effects of NAS, which has become a growing epidemic in our community,” said Kathy Dallas, Director of Women and Children’s Services at Shady Grove Medical Center. “This recognition represents our commitment to care for this important and vulnerable population. Through this collaborative we hope to improve care and decrease unnecessary length of stay and associated costs for newborns who have been exposed to opiates, alcohol, narcotics or other substances.”
Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, a not-for-profit, 444-bed acute care facility in Rockville, Maryland, is part of Adventist HealthCare’s system of healthcare services. Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center is nationally recognized in cancer care, cardiac and vascular services, as well as orthopedics. Our mission is to extend God’s care through the ministry of physical, mental and spiritual healing.
