The Baby’s First Test Challenge Awards build upon the creative and inventive nature of the newborn screening community by supporting and funding proposals highlighting innovative solutions to challenges within the newborn screening community.

In 2016, Baby’s First Test will fund Challenge Awards for projects focusing on improving newborn screening education among NICU nursing professionals. More specifically, funded projects will work on scaling Connecting the Dots, a leading newborn screening education module for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses in tertiary care facilities and for families of patients in the NICU.

Baby's First Test 2016 Request for Proposals

About Connecting the Dots

Connecting the Dots is a project (originally supported by a 2013 Challenge Award) launched by Stacy Hines Dowell, DNP, AGN-BC in response to the rapid expansion of newborn screening and increased demands for NICU nursing staff to: 1) be familiar with the newborn screening process and to 2) be able to provide easily understandable newborn screening information to families of NICU babies.  

Understanding that effective newborn screening in NICUs can significantly reduce long-term disability, or even death, in affected children, Connecting the Dots worked to develop and implement a curriculum addressing NICU nurses’ knowledge and barriers regarding newborn screening. The pilot project consisted of:

 1. An educational module to improve the capacity of NICU nurses to implement newborn screening, involving:

• Focus groups to identify NICU nurses’ baseline knowledge of newborn screening policy and procedures;
• Pre-/post-test knowledge tests;
• Beta-testing educational module; and
• Development of provider pocket guide

 2. Educational materials to improve the capacity of NICU nurses to engage and inform NICU family members about newborn screening

Connecting the Dot’s work to date has formed the foundation and momentum necessary to develop innovate newborn screening educational modules for NICU nurses more broadly. The purpose of this RFP is to provide two grants up to $40,000 to implement, expand, and sustain newborn screening education in NICU settings using the Connect the Dots module. Please note that we are not releasing the Connecting the Dots module at this time. This is to ensure that the module is not copied or used without authorization. Instead, your proposal will need to cover the main elements and process of Connecting the Dots that is outlined in the RFP. The module will be shared after your proposal has been accepted.   

All inquiries regarding the Challenge Awards program and specifications of the project proposal should be submitted to Jackie Seisman, Program Manager at [email protected].