October 1, 2025

Truth & Reconciliation

Orange shirt day was well represented by H&H!❤️ 

Let's remember that our work includes doing our part to heal relationships for generations to come. We are encouraged to wear our orange shirts on the last Friday of every month. 

Transfusion Medicine

We received a call from Transfusions.  They have noticed an increase in DAT samples drawn on babies who have already had a DAT collected in hospital.  Its largely the Rh- moms where this is happening.  Please remember that ALL babies of Rh- moms have a DAT collected at birth from the cord blood sample.  It may not be marked on the PPCR, but we should keep a look out when triaging those charts or when we look over the chart prior to a home visit and make sure the results are documented on the Newborn Hyperbilirubinemia Record.  

Upcoming Webinar
The Saskatchewan Prevention Institute is honoured to host the webinar If These Walls Could Talk: The Hidden Toll of Intimate Partner Violence on Children, presented by Dr. Lise Milne, on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. CST.
In this session, Dr. Milne will examine the profound and lasting effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on children who witness or experience exposure to it. Beyond the immediate risks to physical safety, the presentation will explore the emotional, psychological, neurobiological, developmental, and economic impacts of IPV that can influence a child’s well-being and future outcomes. Participants will be invited to deepen their understanding, foster empathy, and consider actions that can help break the cycle of violence and promote safer environments for children and families.
To register, please visit: https://skprevention.ca/event/if-these-walls-could-talk-the-hidden-toll-of-intimate-partner-violence-on-children/.  This webinar will be recorded, and the recording will be shared with all registrants. We encourage you to share this opportunity with your networks.

Newborn Hyperbilirubinemia Program Update

Thank you to everyone for your patience as we roll out the changes to the  newborn jaundice program.  Your feedback is so valuable.  You are the ones who work with these documents and follow this work flow daily.  Please let Kerry or Nicole know if you have questions or suggestions on how we can continue to integrate the necessary changes in the best way possible to facilitate your work.  

You will now find the Newborn Hyperbilirubinemia Record in the all the client charts starting today. This will replace our old Transcutaneous Bilirubin (TcB) nomogram. If your chart does not have the new record, please put it in the chart and use the updated documents from now on. 

It is important to note that the hyperbili.com tool is a universal tool that was developed to be used in centers without access to transcutaneous bilirubin screening. In those centers, TSB values will guide practice.  At Healthy and Home, our practice has not changed; TcB monitoring always precedes TSB collection. TSB is only necessary if indicated by the TSB screening guidelines.

The new record will clarify discharge guidelines:                                         
Discharge guidelines: 
Preterm (<38 weeks), ≥96 hrs & ΔTSB 61-89, may discharge from jaundice monitoring program.

Term (≥38 weeks), ≥48 hrs & ΔTSB  61-89, may discharge from jaundice monitoring program. 

Post phototherapy, hyperbili.com will not calculate the ∆TSB nor will it give a recommendation for follow up. You will need to manually calculate the ΔTSB for those babies. Remember we CAN now monitor with TcB if > 18 hours post phototherapy.  Once you enter the TcB value and the birth date into hyperbili.com, it will calculate the phototherapy threshold for you.                                                                  

ΔTSB = Phototherapy threshold – Measured TcB

We will also move to implementing the new language on the white cards.  Because JPCH has not implemented the new guidelines, when a chart is triaged, we will still note the jaundice level by color in the bottom right of the white card.  When sending your update to the Team Lead,  please report the delta value (∆) she will then replace the color on the white card with the delta value.  There is a large font laminated card on the white board for easy reference as we learn and implement the new language.  

All the iphones now have the greek alphabet keyboard installed to make this easier.  When you wan to insert the ∆ press the globe symbol in the bottom left corner below the keyboard. Press the ∆ and then the globe again to return to the regular keyboard.