Vanderbilt University Medical Center Podcast: New approaches to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

In the U.S., one infant is born every 15 minutes with withdrawal symptoms after being exposed to opioids before birth -- Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome – according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. Typically, affected neonates must remain hospitalized, usually in neonatal intensive care units, for monitoring and management of opioid withdrawal symptoms. Hospital length of stay for these neonates averages 17-23 days. The latest Advancing Health podcast from the AHA features Dr. Stephen Patrick, an attending neonatologist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy, who shares how his system is working to improve outcomes for opioid-exposed infants and women with substance-use disorders and reduced NAS infant’s LOS.