Information for Healthcare Providers

This section of our website has tools and information about fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) for health care providers, including free educational materials to give to patients.

Report on Neurobehavioral Disorder Associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (ND-PAE)
This report will help healthcare providers identify, diagnose, refer, and care for children and youth with behavioral problems cause by alcohol exposure during pregnancy. Neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure or ND-PAE was first included as a recognized condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 (DSM 5) of the American Psychiatric Association in 2013. It is one of the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) that can occur from being exposed to alcohol during pregnancy. People with ND-PAE can have problems with thinking, behavior, and life skills.

Planning and Implementing Screening and Brief Intervention for Risky Alcohol Use: A Step-by-Step Guide for Primary Care Practices
This guide provides a process and resources to help staff in any primary care practice to plan and implement alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) to reduce alcohol use, an evidence-based approach recommended for all adults, including pregnant women. The guide also presents information on risky alcohol use and how it can be addressed through alcohol SBI.

QuantiaMD
QuantiaMD provides free continuing education opportunities to physicians. This presentation by Dr. Lela McKnight-Eily highlights findings from the CDC 2014 Vital Signs report, Communication Between Health Professionals and Their Patients About Alcohol Use — 44 States and the District of Columbia, 2011 and key aspects of alcohol screening and brief intervention.

American College of Nurse-Midwives Web Resource
The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), in collaboration with CDC, has developed a web page on alcohol use during pregnancy. This resource has information that can be shared with patients, including risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy, a chart showing when birth defects are most likely to occur during pregnancy, and tips on how to avoid alcohol use.

American Academy of Pediatrics FASD Toolkit
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has developed a comprehensive, web-based FASD Toolkit that helps to raise awareness, promote surveillance and screening, and ensure that all children living with FASDs receive appropriate and timely interventions. This comprehensive toolkit serves as the framework for the management of a child with an FASD in the medical home. The toolkit includes a variety of resources and tools, such as information on identification, diagnosis, and referral including a clinical decision algorithm and provider checklist; patient management resources such as sample care plans, case studies, scripts for talking with families of children diagnosed with an FASD; practice management tools like how to build an effective FASD team and billing and coding information; frequently asked questions for providers and families; and resources for in-depth training.

Medscape Video
Alcohol and Women: How to Screen and Intervene
In this CDC Expert Commentary in partnership with Medscape, Dr. Joe Sniezek discusses steps health care providers can take to detect and intervene with women who drink alcohol at risky levels. Advice is based on guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Guidelines for Referral and Diagnosis
This report provides diagnostic guidelines for FAS and information about referrals, services for people with FASDs and their families, and strategies for screening and advising women about risky drinking.

Resources from The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
Tools developed by ACOG help women’s health care providers in identifying women who drink too much and in providing brief educational counseling to reduce or eliminate alcohol use. Resources include a cell phone app, downloadable patient information sheets, current news articles, treatment referral information, and more.

Training & Education
Find training and educational resources for health care providers. This includes intervention tools, curriculum, and information on the Regional Training Centers.

Free Materials
View, print, and order brochures, posters, and other materials for health care providers and their patients.

Healthcare Provider Resource Kit
The free child development Healthcare Provider Resource Kit contains information to give to families on developmental milestones, fact sheets on several developmental disabilities (including FASDs), informational cards and stand, posters, and a growth chart.

Russian Language Web-Based Resource
This is the first Russian language web-based resource developed specifically for FASDs, including information for women and a special section with an online tutorial providing education for physicians, psychologists, and other health professionals.

Data & Statistics
Find data and statistics related to FASDs, including state prevalence, alcohol use, and economic costs.

Research
Find a summary of CDC research on FASDs, including surveillance, tracking, prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies and interventions for children programs.

Articles
Read CDC’s latest scientific articles on FASDs.

Links to Other Websites
Find more information and resources from other organizations on FASDs.