NAS Parent Educator
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Amid America's ongoing opioid epidemic, our most vulnerable population is often forgotten because they are seldom seen.
Nearly every 25 minutes a baby is born with symptoms of opioid withdrawal. These suffering children require immediate special care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). They need help, their parents need help, and the medial professionals responsible for assisting these families need help.
MetaMD has designed an educational program that provides critical information necessary to care for a baby suffering withdrawal, or neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Our goal is to make this life-changing education available to all hospitals as rapidly as possible, and regardless of their ability to pay.
The opioid crisis
In 2017 the government declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. Daily, the media talks about the tremendous increase in opioid misuse and related overdoses; however, most people are not aware of the devastating consequences of the rising incidence of newborns experiencing withdrawal due to their mother’s opioid use during pregnancy. This is NOT always caused by women using illegal drugs. In fact, of the babies born with NAS, almost 70% are born to mothers using legal prescription drugs.
Specialized education is needed
Educating parents of NAS babies is critical. But, effective education is time consuming and requires more than handouts and verbal explanations to parents who are stressed, scared, and often embarrassed or ashamed about their situations. In addition to the standard education a new mother typically receives, NAS moms must also understand the additional, special needs of her baby.
Our program is already being used successfully in several hospitals, but to make a larger impact, additional funding is needed. With your help, we can make it available to all hospitals nationwide!
The NAS Parent Educator™
The educational lessons are delivered via an App that can be customized for each hospital. It is called the NAS Parent Educator™. Topics include the signs and symptoms of NAS, how it is monitored and treated, expected outcomes, how to best care for the baby, and more. A key component of the education is to encourage and engage the parents to be an active part of their baby’s care.
We need your support!
Your support helps us reach more hospitals, provide ongoing technical and clinical support, and continue to develop additional educational lessons and tools. There are over 5,000 hospitals in the US. Our initial goal was to provide the program to the approximately 1,100 hospitals that have a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). However, hospitals without a NICU also need this resource because when a baby is born and shows signs of withdrawal, the baby is transferred to a hospital with a NICU. The mom’s care continues at the birth hospital and she needs access to this specialized education while there.
A little goes a long way!
We incur a relatively small incremental production cost to provide a hospital with the NAS Parent Educator™ app, with licensing and support for a full year. After that, we will encourage participating hospitals to pay a small annual support fee to help offset the cost of continuing the initiative, providing updates, and expanding the educational content. Also, this “pay it forward” concept will assist additional hospitals and physicians to secure the program. Of course, no hospital will be terminated because they cannot help to pay it forward. Sadly, many hospitals struggle to secure funding for patient education. This is why your support is so important and helps enhance the lives of the tiniest patients.
Thank you!
About MetaMD, LLC
MetaMD is a small, woman-owned, “social enterprise”. Our goal is to solve unmet needs and/or social problems through a market-driven approach. While we must generate enough revenue to sustain the organization, our intent has always been to prioritize social goals alongside financial necessity.
MetaMD’s business is to provide high quality, cost effective, parent/caregiver education through Labor & Delivery and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) at hospitals of all sizes. Our core educational programs include NICU Knowledge™, Newborn Knowledge™, and Facing an Early Delivery™.
All of MetaMD’s educational programs provide clinical benefits, improve parent/patient compliance, increase patient satisfaction, and support/accelerate the discharge process…all while reducing costs and re-admittance. Most importantly, they help parents take better care of their babies.
Nearly every 25 minutes a baby is born with symptoms of opioid withdrawal. These suffering children require immediate special care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). They need help, their parents need help, and the medial professionals responsible for assisting these families need help.
MetaMD has designed an educational program that provides critical information necessary to care for a baby suffering withdrawal, or neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Our goal is to make this life-changing education available to all hospitals as rapidly as possible, and regardless of their ability to pay.
The opioid crisis
In 2017 the government declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. Daily, the media talks about the tremendous increase in opioid misuse and related overdoses; however, most people are not aware of the devastating consequences of the rising incidence of newborns experiencing withdrawal due to their mother’s opioid use during pregnancy. This is NOT always caused by women using illegal drugs. In fact, of the babies born with NAS, almost 70% are born to mothers using legal prescription drugs.
Specialized education is needed
Educating parents of NAS babies is critical. But, effective education is time consuming and requires more than handouts and verbal explanations to parents who are stressed, scared, and often embarrassed or ashamed about their situations. In addition to the standard education a new mother typically receives, NAS moms must also understand the additional, special needs of her baby.
Our program is already being used successfully in several hospitals, but to make a larger impact, additional funding is needed. With your help, we can make it available to all hospitals nationwide!
The NAS Parent Educator™
The educational lessons are delivered via an App that can be customized for each hospital. It is called the NAS Parent Educator™. Topics include the signs and symptoms of NAS, how it is monitored and treated, expected outcomes, how to best care for the baby, and more. A key component of the education is to encourage and engage the parents to be an active part of their baby’s care.
We need your support!
Your support helps us reach more hospitals, provide ongoing technical and clinical support, and continue to develop additional educational lessons and tools. There are over 5,000 hospitals in the US. Our initial goal was to provide the program to the approximately 1,100 hospitals that have a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). However, hospitals without a NICU also need this resource because when a baby is born and shows signs of withdrawal, the baby is transferred to a hospital with a NICU. The mom’s care continues at the birth hospital and she needs access to this specialized education while there.
A little goes a long way!
We incur a relatively small incremental production cost to provide a hospital with the NAS Parent Educator™ app, with licensing and support for a full year. After that, we will encourage participating hospitals to pay a small annual support fee to help offset the cost of continuing the initiative, providing updates, and expanding the educational content. Also, this “pay it forward” concept will assist additional hospitals and physicians to secure the program. Of course, no hospital will be terminated because they cannot help to pay it forward. Sadly, many hospitals struggle to secure funding for patient education. This is why your support is so important and helps enhance the lives of the tiniest patients.
Thank you!
About MetaMD, LLC
MetaMD is a small, woman-owned, “social enterprise”. Our goal is to solve unmet needs and/or social problems through a market-driven approach. While we must generate enough revenue to sustain the organization, our intent has always been to prioritize social goals alongside financial necessity.
MetaMD’s business is to provide high quality, cost effective, parent/caregiver education through Labor & Delivery and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) at hospitals of all sizes. Our core educational programs include NICU Knowledge™, Newborn Knowledge™, and Facing an Early Delivery™.
All of MetaMD’s educational programs provide clinical benefits, improve parent/patient compliance, increase patient satisfaction, and support/accelerate the discharge process…all while reducing costs and re-admittance. Most importantly, they help parents take better care of their babies.
Organizer
MetaMD LLC
Organizer
Chestnut Hill, VA
