Newborn Screening – Page 2 – AZ Dept. of Health Services Director's Blog

Newborn Screening Advisory Committee Recommendation: Add SCID

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:28-07:00October 7th, 2014|Newborn Screening|

Newborn Screening consists of critical laboratory and bedside tests done on newborns to see if they have certain inherited diseases. Early detection for these specific diseases is critical for the babies, doctors and parents, because delays in treatment can result in irreversible developmental delays, sickness and even death. With the passage of HB 2491 last [...]

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ADHS Receives March of Dimes National Award

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:29-07:00September 18th, 2014|Newborn Screening|

The ADHS won the first-ever Newborn Screening Quality Award from the March of Dimes this week. We were recognized for shortening the length of time it takes bloodspot samples to get from Arizona hospitals to our State Laboratory, setting and achieving a target of receiving 95% of samples within 72 hours, and for establishing a policy [...]

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Partnering to Improve a System

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:33-07:00August 11th, 2014|Newborn Screening|

Thursday we celebrated our recent statewide success at reducing the time it takes newborn screening blood spot samples to get to our State Laboratory for testing. Over the last 8 months, Arizona has improved our blood spot turn-around time to among the best in the country. Folks from dozens of hospitals came to a celebrate [...]

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Newborn Screening Team Beats Deadline

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:37-07:00June 13th, 2014|Newborn Screening, Preparedness|

Ben Franklin said: "Critics are our friends, they show us our faults". A true statement. When a reporter from Wisconsin wrote a story about newborn screening turn-around times around the country, we found out that we had room for improvement when it comes to the time it takes newborn metabolic screening samples to get from AZ hospitals to our Lab. Basically, [...]

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Improving Newborn Screening Turn-around Times

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:45-07:00March 24th, 2014|Newborn Screening, Prevention|

Last December I wrote about an investigation done by a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about newborn screening program turn-around times across the country. When I saw where Arizona stood relative to the other states in the article, we set a new goal of making sure that our Lab gets 95% of all newborn [...]

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Midwife Practice Collaborative

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:47-07:00March 4th, 2014|Licensing, Newborn Screening|

Our Licensing team promotes and protects public health and safety by addressing quality of care issues. Last week we hosted a forum for our licensed midwives to learn more about our programs and resources to bring them up to speed on our newest initiatives related to maternal and child health so they'll have the latest tools [...]

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Newborn Screening Turn-Around Times

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:57-07:00December 13th, 2013|Newborn Screening, Prevention|

An investigative article published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a couple of weeks ago has triggered a state by state assessment of newborn screening programs across the country. Arizona is no exception. Our newborn screening and maternal and child health teams have been reviewing our procedures and looking for ways to improve Arizona’s performance. For example, several Arizona [...]

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Newborn Screening Rulemaking

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:00-07:00November 16th, 2013|General, Newborn Screening|

Our Newborn Screening Program ensures that each newborn is tested for 28 inherited disorders and hearing problems. The goal is to help kids avoid illness, developmental delays and even death by quickly identifying problems and swiftly letting their doctors know so they can implement interventions. On any given day our newborn screening team tests from [...]

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50 Years of Newborn Screening

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:07-07:00September 29th, 2013|General, Newborn Screening, Preparedness|

The first newborn screening test was developed in 1963 by Dr. Robert Guthrie to test for phenylketonuria, commonly known as PKU. Since then, scientists have developed more tests to screen newborns for a variety of severe conditions. This year, the nation celebrates 50 Years of Newborn Screening. The State of Arizona currently screens for 29 [...]

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Lab Website Makeover

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:24-07:00May 22nd, 2013|General, Newborn Screening|

Our Lab just finished a major website makeover. Check out the new Laboratory landing page which will lead you to Newborn Screening, Microbiology, Chemistry, and Lab Licensure and Certification.

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