A Mobile/Web-based Training Curriculum for Disseminating Best Practices for the Care of Newborns with Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome

AbstractThe incidence of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) in the United States has grown dramatically over the past two decades. Efficient and effective resources and materials for training neonatal care providers in empirically based practices for NOWS are greatly needed. The goal of the proposed Phase I STTR project is to develop a highly accessible mobile/web-based multimedia curriculum for training neonatal health care providers in best practices for assessing and treating NOWS. The project will demonstrate proof-of- concept and feasibility of a web-based multimedia curriculum that provides a professional development experience enabling neonatal care providers to successfully assess and administer evidence-based non- pharmacologic family-centered care for newborns with NOWS. We will develop curriculum content including scripted video scenarios, interactive learning components, and quizzes delivered via a mobile/web-based platform. Focus groups with ten neonatal care providers will 33Tinform the content, structure, and style of the new curriculum by reviewing an existing preliminary version of the curriculum. 33TUsing these focus group data, we will create multimedia experiences featuring scripted video segments demonstrating core NOWS clinical practices and procedures. The curriculum will be delivered on a mobile application built within a web-based infrastructure allowing both app-based and web-based experiences. A community advisory board comprised of members representing state public health departments and agencies, pediatric healthcare facilities, and pediatric healthcare associations will provide feedback on the completed modules and offer guidance on further development, dissemination, and marketing of the curriculum. We will demonstrate usability and commercial viability of the completed curriculum modules through these interviews and through pilot testing with a sample of neonatal care providers who will use the completed curriculum modules and complete pre-post NOWS knowledge tests and after completing the modules complete a product usability assessment. Upon passing our benchmarks for Phase I, we will propose a Phase II STTR project that will support full production of all modules in the curriculum as well as an implementation trial to establish the effects of the curriculum on provider practices and patient outcomes. Following a successful Phase II, the NOWS curriculum will be marketed to state public health departments and agencies, pediatric healthcare facilities, managed care organizations. Organizational investment in the curriculum could produce returns many times over by virtue of fewer days of inpatient hospitalization for newborns with NOWS, less intensive and costly treatment regimens, and improved health outcomes driven by reductions in medically unnecessary pharmacologic treatments and increased use of non-pharmacologic family-centered interventions.Project Narrative The incidence of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) in the United States has grown dramatically over the past two decades. By 2016, the incidence of NOWS in the United States grew to an estimated 20 out of 1000 births. Standards of care for newborns with NOWS call for extensive observation and monitoring of such infants with the majority being admitted to neonatal intensive care units for pharmacological treatment. Prevailing intensive care regimens for NOWS are exorbitantly expensive. This project will develop a highly accessible mobile/web-based multimedia curriculum for training neonatal health care providers in best practices for assessing and treating newborns with opioid withdrawal syndrome. The curriculum will be tailored to address the needs of healthcare providers and patient populations in rural communities where facilities and resources for providing comprehensive care for infants with opioid exposure and their mothers are limited.