“We’re Checking a Box and,You Know,Covering Our Own”: Health Professionals’ Descriptions of Hospital-Policy Making Regarding Child Welfare Reporting Related to Birthing People’s Drug Use

Abstract

Background:

Hospital policies play a role in healthcare providers’ decision-making about reporting birthing people who use drugs to child welfare. This study sought to understand how these specific hospital policies are made.

Methods:

We conducted semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals involved in developing or revising hospital policies related to child welfare reporting for birthing people who use drugs. The interview guide was informed by an implementation science framework and focused on participants’ experiences developing or revising these policies. We coded transcripts inductively, focusing on themes that emerged in the interviews themselves, and deductively, focusing on pre-determined aspects of the policy development process.

Results:

Participants (N = 16) were physicians (69%), registered nurses (19%), and social workers (12%). The sample was drawn from all regions of the United States. Two themes emerged in data analysis. The first theme was that urine drug testing policies for pregnant and birthing individuals are seen as part of hospital child welfare reporting policies. Specifically, participants often described child welfare reporting policies as including criteria for urine drug testing and explained that the connection between urine drug testing and child welfare reporting policies was by design. The second theme was that the content of hospital child welfare reporting policies is a result of hospital politics and a focus on legal compliance. They described the legal compliance aspects of the hospital policies as serving to protect the institution and, occasionally, individual employees from legal consequences.

Conclusion:

The content of hospital policies regarding birthing people who use drugs appears influenced by political and legal considerations more than considerations of patient or public health.