EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I completed my field studies experience with Santa Clara County Department
Public Health Department in San Jose in the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health
(MCAH) Division in Perinatal Substance Abuse Unit. My field studies commenced from
end of June till the second week of September for 12 weeks. The office was located in
614 Tully Road, San Jose, CA, which later moved to 976 Lenzen Ave, San Jose after
MCAH moved under Child Health and Disability Prevention Program due to budget cut.
My preceptor was Ms. Raj Gill, MPH, who is a health educator and a Perinatal Substance
Abuse coordinator in the MCAH Division.
To have healthy babies as an outcome it is very crucial to avoid Alcohol, Tobacco
and other drugs during pregnancy, encouraging abstinence and priority to screening is
important too. Addressing these facts during delivery is too late. Therefore, as a part of
Perinatal Substance Abuse Unit, an effective collaborative effort is formed which is
known as Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Pregnancy (CADFP) to address this
issues. The goal of CADFP is to identity gaps in awareness, education, resources,
implementation of best practices and policies regarding screening pregnant women and
women of child-bearing age for substance use.
CADFP is focusing on raising awareness and changing behavior by facilitating
and promoting programs, and influencing clinical practices of perinatal substance abuse
prevention and treatment. CADFP is funded through grants from CISCO and First 5 to
initiate the prevention initiatives. My internship focused on working with different goals
and objective of CADFP by implementing Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to
treatment (SBIRT) screening tool in private OB/GYN clinics as well as public CPSP
clinics, embedding screening tools in electronic medical records, training providers at
CPSP site for sustainable training system for electronic medical recording. CADFP is
collaborating with different agencies and closely working with private clinic for pilot
study and satellite clinics with the goal of implementing the screening tool in all different
perinatal services at Santa Clara County. The data are collected to assess the risk to assess
prevalence of risk factor associated with alcohol, tobacco and other drug services among
pregnant women and embedding SBIRT in Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital
System Electronic Medical System (EMR) after SBIRT implementation.
Student Name: Prashansa Mudvari
Advisor: Mike Prelip
Year: September 15, 2009