Top NICHQ Resources for Pursuing Healthcare Improvements in 2022
Our Commitment to Equity
As we begin a new year on our journey toward equity, we’re sharing a collection of NICHQ articles that your community found most valuable in their equity journeys. Make sure you’re signed up for NICHQ News so you stay informed of new resources, webinars, and innovations in children’s health.
Browse a collection of insights on a variety of important equity topics.
Top Articles
1. Racially Motivated Violence is a Children’s Health Issue
In the wake of recent mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, and Highland Park, and too many others, we discuss the mental health implications of racially motivated and gun violence on children and their families with Stacy Scott, PhD, MPA, Executive Project Director and Equity Lead at NICHQ, and Becky Russell, MSPH, Senior Director of Applied Research and Evaluation at NICHQ.
It can be difficult to fully and accurately understand the source of maternal and child health inequities. Ultimately, professionals do not yet have a clear idea of which strategies work best, particularly for families who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). The National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement in Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN) project has confronted these challenges and found that community-based participatory quality improvement might hold the answer.
3. 3 Ways to Close Gaps in Sickle Cell Disease Care: Recommendations from NICHQ Projects
In the past several decades, clinicians, public health professionals, and those with lived experience have seen advancements in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) treatments and research that have significantly improved outcomes and increased life expectancies for people living with SCD. Conversations on how to improve access to care should continue, and these three recommendations begin with some of the most pressing needs.
4. Children and Their Families Have a Right to Gender-Affirming Healthcare
The AAP acknowledges that the need for more formal training, standardized treatment, and research on safety and medical outcomes often leaves providers feeling ill-equipped to support and care for gender-diverse patients and their families. As physicians, public health professionals, and care providers, we have an obligation to support youth with unique healthcare needs who are at higher risk for negative health outcomes from discrimination, including bullying, physical assault, and suicide.
Read our joint op-ed from CARE for MCH, a group of maternal and child health organizations committed to anti-racism: To Improve Maternal Health, We Must Depoliticize Racial Equity
Webinars to Inspire
This year, NICHQ was proud to host informative and interactive webinars featuring respected health professionals, community advocates, improvement advisors, and more. Did you miss one of our live events? Watch recordings of each webinar from 2022.
While sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) and breastfeeding are public health issues across population groups, significant disparities exist across race, ethnicity, and geography. To center the lived experiences of communities, many MCH programs are shifting to community-driven work to promote safe sleep and breastfeeding, including the National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN).
This webinar discussed how the NAPPSS-IIN programmatic and evaluation pursuits shifted to center community voices within participatory quality improvement (QI). Community partners share their experiences leading and implementing QI activities. Implications for MCH projects and community-based research were discussed.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (NNPQC) coordinated by the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ), and the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) recently hosted a webinar on implementing Plans of Safe Care (POSC) to support infants, parents, and caregivers affected by substance use disorder. This webinar supported the Biden-Harris Administration’s Drug Policy Priority to “explore, identify barriers, and establish policy to help pregnant people with substance use disorder (SUD) obtain prenatal care and addiction treatment without fear of child removal.” The webinar highlighted Oklahoma’s collaborative approach to supporting infants and families affected by prenatal substance use, including the partnership with the Oklahoma Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative, the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and the Department of Human Services.
Participants were introduced to state Perinatal Quality Collaboratives and the technical assistance resources available through NCSACW.
Resources to Support Your Work
Resources to Support Your Work
Each year, we strive to provide our community of collaborators and stakeholders with high-quality, evidence-based resources needed to make meaningful change. Below, you’ll find a list of our top resources that have made an impact on child and maternal health in 2022. Find more resources specific to your health specialty here.
Patient and family partnerships are an essential element of health equity. There are a variety of miles to cover and turns to take on the journey of effective engagement and inclusion of a Patient/Family Partner (PFP) onto a work group, advisory council, Quality Improvement (QI) team, or other clinical or health systems initiatives. Pre-planning is likely needed in advance of inviting PFPs to join in on the journey.
This roadmap includes guidance for many steps along the process, from preparing to invite a family partner to the group to thinking about sustainability.
This case story describes how family-led data collection and advocacy lead to increases in early childhood funding in Alameda County, Calif. This case story accompanies a related set of issue briefs titled Addressing Early Childhood Health Equity in Communities and States that synthesize the recent work of the ECHE Landscape Project and highlight the themes and findings that emerged across the project activities. Key themes gathered through the ECHE Landscape survey included cross-sector relationships, operationalization of health equity, an adaptation of initiatives to the COVID-19 pandemic, data and measurement, sustainability, and connections between local and state ECHE initiatives.
TOOLKIT | New York State Obstetric Hemorrhage Toolkit
The goal of the NYS Obstetric Hemorrhage Project was to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality statewide by translating evidence-based guidelines into clinical practice to improve the assessment for and management of obstetric hemorrhage. This quality improvement collaborative engaged teams from 83 NYS birthing hospitals from diverse geographic areas and included: 17 Regional Perinatal Centers (RPCs); 23 Level III birthing hospitals; 18 Level II birthing hospitals; and 25 Level I birthing hospitals. These teams, in partnership with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) District II’s Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI), Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) and Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), with support from the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) and other stakeholders, worked together to implement interventions to improve obstetric outcomes.
BROCHURE | COVID-19 and Pregnancy (NYSDOH)
Recent studies, along with existing research, show that all of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. are effective in pregnant and breastfeeding people. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) strongly recommends that all eligible persons receive a COVID-19 vaccine or vaccine series, depending on the product.
This helpful brochure developed by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) provides families with useful information about the COVID-19 vaccine and how women and birthing people can protect themselves, their families, and their babies by getting vaccinated.