Blog and News
Blog & News
Connecting the Dots
-
As my journey with the Baby’s First Task Consumer Task Force comes to an end it actually feels like a new journey has begun! This year has been a year of thinking outside of the 4 walls of TN Newborn Screening (NBS). The opportunity to meet a spectacular group of NBS stakeholders and advocates has truly given me a greater insight of the much need work we are doing. Having the opportunity to attend the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (SACHDNC) was an experience I will treasure forever. I have gained more knowledge of the social media world and how to effectively use it as a platform for NBS awareness. I must say before this experience I had never written a blog. I can now officially say I am a blogger!
One of the most impactful things I experienced was the power of one! The Power of one parent, one journey, one cause…….newborn screening. To impact legislation from ones dedication, persistence and passion was absolutely amazing to witness!
One of my goals during this experience was to bridge the gap between NICU nurses and newborn screening in our pediatric hospital. My second goal was to create a tangible tool that would improve the knowledge and understanding of the newborn screening process. I am happy to report that my discussions with nursing leadership have been very successful. This is a major step toward decreasing the amount of unsatisfactory specimens from our hospital. Through this process I successfully created a NBS pocket guide for our NICU staff. Since its soft release to the neonatal nurse practitioners and nursing leadership the feedback has been amazing! The next step is to officially release the pocket guides to the entire NICU nursing staff and staff Neonatologists in 2013.
This opportunity to participate with Baby’s First Test Consumer Task Force 2012 has helped me to see with new vision and I have grown as a person and healthcare professional. As I sign off on this blog I continue my journey Connecting the Dots……… one heel stick at a time!
Sincerely,
Stacy Hines-Dowell
Comment on This Post