Report from the CDC. Physician and Allied Health Professionals' Training and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Abstract

Maternal prenatal alcohol use is one of the leading preventable causes of birth defects and developmental disabilities. On the severe end of the spectrum of conditions related to drinking during pregnancy is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Physicians and other health practitioners play a critical role in diagnosing FAS and in screening women of childbearing age for alcohol use during pregnancy. The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Team at CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities awarded funds to four medical school partners (Meharry and Morehouse Medical Colleges, St. Louis University, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and the University of California at Los Angeles) to develop FAS regional training centers (RTCs). The RTCs are developing, implementing, evaluating, and disseminating educational curricula for medical and allied health students and practitioners that incorporate evidence-based diagnostic guidelines for FAS and other prenatal alcohol-related disorders.