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In 2002, the 42 hospitals that provided maternity services in Central
Pennsylvania were asked to partner together and participate in a shaken baby education, research,
and child abuse prevention effort. Under this program, which was developed in
1998 by Pediatric Neurosurgeon Dr. Mark Dias, every parent, upon the birth of every child,
was educated about Shaken
Baby Syndrome. The education was tracked through the use of a commitment
statement that parents were asked to voluntarily sign. This actively engaged the
parents in the
education process as well as provided an avenue for program coordinators to
track the delivery of this information. Shaken baby
education was extended to the eastern and western portions of the state in 2004,
through the generous funding of The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and
Delinquency and The Pennsylvania Department of
Health. The program was renamed The Pennsylvania Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention
and Awareness Program to reflect participation statewide. Since May 2006, 100% of Pennsylvania's birthing and children's
hospitals have verbalized a commitment
to providing consistent shaken baby education to their parents and participate
in the SBS data tracking with Dr. Dias and his Nurse Coordinators.
Dr. Dais and the shaken baby team were awarded a $2.8 million
dollar grant from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in October 2007 to
continue the hospital-based program. Under this grant agreement, Phase II
of the research program will also be implemented through SBS education provided
by Pediatric and Family Practices in 16 random counties in central PA.
This booster of education will be presented at the 2 month, 4 month and 6 month
immunization visits to complement the education provided at the time of the
baby's birth. The other PA counties will not provide the outpatient
education. The SBS team will evaluate data on infant abusive head trauma
from the counties providing the booster education and compare it with the
counties where it was not provided. The study will indicate whether the
education and prevention materials help to reduce incidence rates, as it has in
New York, and also evaluate the cost of implementing the outpatient program
statewide.
The ultimate goal is to decrease the incidence of infant abusive head trauma
statewide!
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Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS)
is one of the most severe forms of child abuse caused by the violent shaking of an infant with or without impact against an
object. Approximately 1/3 of the victims die as a result of direct brain
injuries. Thousands of victims who survive suffer permanent neurological damage
such as blindness, developmental delays, mental retardation, seizures, physical
disabilities, paralysis, and/or brain damage.