Amidst the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, multidisciplinary professionals who support families with newborns prenatally exposed to substances from across the state of Colorado convened virtually on May 12th for the Spring CHoSEN Forum to share updates and learn from each other’s successes and challenges in implementing related quality improvement efforts. 

Dr. Susan Hwang shared updates on the CHoSEN Collaborative’s hospital-level efforts, including the network’s growth to over 30 hospitals across three states and 2017-2020 data from hospitals within the CHoSEN cohort, including average lengths of inpatient stays for opioid-exposed newborns, percentages of opioid-exposed newborns who received pharmacologic therapy, and the racial and ethnic disparities that exist within those statistics. ​

Hear from subject matter experts, share your challenges and progress and learn from your colleagues at the Virtual Spring CHoSEN Forum. ​

Don't miss our forum keynote:
Caring for the Opioid-Exposed Mother Infant Dyad Across the Perinatal Continuum
Davida M. Schiff, M.D.
Medical Director of the HOPE Clinic (Harnessing support for Opioid and substance use disorder in Pregnancy and Early childhood) at Massachusetts General Hospital

Virtual attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a breakout discussion with colleagues from around the state on one of the following topics:

• Prenatal Engagement: Share lessons and challenges around engaging patients prenatally, including using the new CHoSEN family videos.
• Breastfeeding: Share lessons and challenges around implementing policies to increase the use of mother’s own milk for opioid-exposed newborns.  
• Non-Pharm Approaches/ESC: Share lessons and challenges around the implementation of non-pharmacological approaches, including the Eat Sleep Console Assessment. 
• Plans of Safe Care: Share lessons and challenges around discharge planning and warm handoffs between hospital providers, primary care providers, child welfare, and community resources.  
• Dissemination & Publication: Discuss opportunities to share your work--whether with your C-suite, local news, conferences, peer-reviewed journals, and more.   

Don't wait! Register today!

The CHoSEN Collaborative convenes a forum twice a year to foster idea-sharing and community collaboration for professionals working on improving outcomes for women and families affected by perinatal substance use and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). This year, the fall forum was held in Glennwood Springs, Colorado to better accommodate Western Slope attendees.  

More than seventy attendees began their day hearing CHoSEN QIC updates directly from subject matter experts Dr. Susan Hwang, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Neonatologist Children’s Hospital Colorado and University Hospital; CPCQC Executive Committee  Member, SEN Steering Committee Member Jaime Cabrera, MPH, Executive Director of CPCQC, SEN Steering Committee Member; and Jade Woodard, Executive Director of Illuminate Colorado and Co-Chair the SEN Steering Committee. 

The day also included two keynote addresses, first from Dr. Susanne Klawetter, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Portland State University, who highlighted the importance of using trauma-informed approaches given the prevalence of childhood trauma among mothers with a substance use disorder.    

After several presentations from hospitals participating in CHoSEN QIC and a discussion of barriers and facilitators to CHoSEN QIC implementation, clinicians received the final keynote address of the day from Dr. Ryan Jackman, St. Mary's Medical Center Faculty, Family Medicine Residency Medical Director, Integrated Addiction Medicine on treatment and recovery continuum on the West Slope. 

The next CHoSEN Forum is scheduled for May 12th in the Denver metro area.  ​