Eat, Sleep, Console: Reducing Disparities in Care

The stigma surrounding substance use in pregnancy can have significant consequences for a family, which can be exacerbated by policies and procedures within the healthcare system related to the treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).

In a Northwestern Ontario hospital, policies to treat NAS separated the parent from the neonate for pharmacologic treatment. For many families, this separation heightened disparities, further stigmatized the parent, and decreased their ability to effectively care for their neonate.

The Eat, Sleep, Console (ESC) model of care and keeping the parent-neonate dyad together has been shown to be a superior approach to the management of NAS compared to other models.

The research is clear that keeping the parent-neonate dyad together during NAS treatment improves neonatal outcomes, addresses systemic barriers that many substance using families face, and provides increased opportunities for nursing staff to provide support to families.