The NMS Program clinical policy suite is a collection of five governance documents that set out the responsibilities and expectations for the delivery of an integrated and coordinated NMS Program offered to all infants born in Alberta. To learn more, see:
NMS Program staff education is a collection of high-quality educational resources targeted at staff involved in the newborn blood spot screening pathway. Staff education is broken down into four main categories. To learn more related to collection, see:
NMS Program parent information is a collection of useful resources to use with parents and guardians about newborn blood spot screening. To learn more, see:
Newborn blood spot screening circumstances can be very complex. For forms and information to handle some special situations, see:
Blood spot cards can be returned to parents and guardians after all testing the infant needs is completed and the newborn blood spot screen results are reported. Physicians and midwives can make this request on behalf of the parent by calling NMS Lab at 780-407-1698.
Removing information that identifies a parent or guardian and their infant from the NMS Application is possible after all testing the infant needs is completed and the newborn blood spot screen results are reported. Please have the parents fill out the Removal of Personal Information from the Newborn Metabolic Screening Application form.
Some parents and guardians may have concerns about newborn blood spot screening. However, if an infant is not screened and has one of the treatable conditions, the condition may not be found early when treatment can help the infant the most. For more information about refusals and the Refusal for Newborn Blood Spot Screen form see the staff education essentials, Parent Refusal.
If you can’t get in touch with the family send the parent or guardian a letter similar to the NMS Program Sample Letter for Contacting Parents/Guardians. For more information see the staff education essentials, Finding the Family.
Provider information describes the treatable conditions screened for by the NMS Program. They provide insight into next steps in the newborn blood spot screening pathway after an infant has an abnormal screen result. To learn more, see:
The NMS Program includes a comprehensive safety net called alert management to help make sure all infants born in Alberta receive timely care throughout the newborn blood spot screening pathway.
Alerts are generated within the Alberta Health NMS Application and acted upon every business day within AHS and FNIHB to make certain
Alert management involves three major processes:
NMS Program alert distribution involves the dissemination and tracking of alerts requiring action every business day to zone public health nursing services and FNIHB. Alert distribution also involves manually closing alerts as required and entering standardized actions into the Alberta Health NMS Application.
NMS Program alert actions occur in zone public health nursing services, FNIHB and the NMS Lab every business day.
Alert actions may involve contacting families to arrange sample collection, verifying data related to infant demographics and collection information, and referring infants with abnormal screen results for clinical assessments and diagnostic testing. Sample collection occurs within specified timelines.
The NMS Program coordination team monitors alerts in order to facilitate the timely management of alerts. This involves offering support to zone public health nursing services, FNIHB, midwives, neonatal intensive care units and the NMS Lab by
Health care providers can order NMS Program resources online. The user id and password required are provided below.
