Hospital Named Shaken Baby Prevention Education Champion

Thayer County Health Services (TCHS) in Hebron was recently recognized as an Abusive Head Trauma / Shaken Baby Prevention Education Champion. To become an AHT/SBS Prevention Hospital Champion, the hospital signs a pledge, creates or updates an AHT/SBS policy, provides yearly education to hospital personnel, educates parents with evidence-based AHT/SBS materials in accordance with Nebraska Revised Statute 71-2103, and incorporates The Crying Plan into post-discharge patient calls.

“The stresses of parenthood can be intense, but with proper education, we are ensuring parents know the right way to deal with their new role,” said Division of Public Health Deputy Director Judy Martin. “This is a transformative initiative that impacts children in their first year of life, but affects the rest of their life.”

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) worked with the Nebraska Hospital Association, the Nebraska Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Nebraska Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative, and the Brain Injury Alliance of Nebraska to launch the Nebraska AHT/SBS Prevention Education Hospital Campaign. The campaign provides evidence-based education and training to parents of newborns as well as birthing hospital staff.

Eleven babies’ deaths were associated with Abusive Head Trauma for Nebraska infants between 2010 and 2016. Even one infant death is too many.  Many more babes were injured by being shaken but were able to survive. Abusive Head Trauma (AHT), also known as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), is 100 percent preventable and is a form of physical child abuse to a baby or young child.

Resources are available to help hospitals become AHT/SBS Prevention Education Hospital Champions including an AHT/SBS Toolkit – dhhs.ne.gov/HospitalCampaign. Learn more about Abusive Head Trauma/Shaken Baby Syndrome and The Crying Plan at – http://dhhs.ne.gov/publichealth/MCAH/Pages/SafetyResources.aspx