Barb Shirazi scans the bar code on a specimen tube to order tests.
Maternal Screening helps identify women at increased risk of having a developing fetus with Down syndrome, Trisomy 18, or an open neural tube defect, as well as provide patients and health care providers with information about their pregnancy. The Iowa Maternal Screening Program consists of lab results generated from SHL as well as follow-up guidance by genetic counselors and OB/GYN nursing staff at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics for any patient generating an abnormal risk.
Detection rates vary depending on the screening test chosen by the provider. Integrated screening combines testing results from two samples collected in the first and the second trimester, and has the highest detection rate for pregnancies at risk if a Nuchal Translucency (NT)-certified sonographer provides a NT measurement. This screening test may be performed without an NT measurement at a slightly lower detection rate. By offering both options, it enables patients without access to an NT-certified sonographer to obtain an integrated screen.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Added an easier, more streamlined approach for health care providers to access screening information by migrating to an electronic lab information system known as OpenELIS.
- Updated and clarified test request forms after surveying providers who send high volume maternal screening test requests.
- Worked with UnityPoint across Iowa to standardize their interface for electronic ordering and reporting of maternal screening tests.
- QUAD SCREEN
- INTEGRATED SERUM SCREEN
- AFP ONLY
- FIRST TRIMESTER ONLY
- AFP ONLY – AMNIOTIC FLUID
