Shaken Baby Prevention Education - LDRP

Nurses General Nursing

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At last count, 25+ states require hospitals to offer new parents some form of information about "Shaken Baby Syndrome" (formally known as AHT).

Several states include the requirement to offer parents an educational video, based on the results reported by Dias et al. in Pediatrics (2005) http://bit.ly/HnEWgb

That requirement caused nurses some trepidation in New York, but "framing" the discussion in terms of helping parents learn how to protect their child from injury, rather than the traditional admonition to "never shake your baby", seems to have helped nurse-educators engage parents with the information, especially if it's delivered with other safety information, such as SIDS risk reduction, car seats. etc.

At Vassar Brothers Medical Center began including education in 2001.

http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Article/A-Patient-Reminder.aspx

Surveying parents, they reported getting the information, and appreciating its importance.

As the third week of April (April 15-21) is recognized as "Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week", and most prevention education - as distinguished from general awareness - happens in the hospital, wondering how education is working - or not working - in other states.

Is the safety/injury prevention frame more common that the child abuse prevention frame?

PS. In those states where patient/parent education is required by law, it is - in theory - a compliance requirement tested during JCAHO visits.

[Joint Commission: The Source (2006)] http://www.wchob.org/shakenbaby/SBS_article.pdf

Has anyone had experience with this issue during JCAHO accreditation visits?

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