Hyperbilirubinemia Resources

This page provides resources about hyperbilirubinemia for health care professionals and others. The Joint Commission urges health care organizations to share this information, which can help in the prevention, early detection and treatment of hyperbilirubinemia leading to kernicterus—a highly preventable condition of newborns that leads to severe brain damage or death.

Joint Commission Information:

• Sentinel Event Alert 18  - Kernicterus threatens healthy newborns  Apr 1, 2001
• Sentinel Event Alert 31 - Revised guidance to help prevent kernicterus  Aug 31, 2004

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Information:

• News release: Safe & Healthy Beginnings (pdf document)
• Safe & Healthy Beginnings: A Resource Toolkit for Hospitals and Physicians’ Offices

Detailed product description and an outline can be viewed on the AAP's Practice Management Online Web site.

Related AAP links:

• Clinical Practice Guidelines: Management of Hyperbilirubinemia in the Newborn Infant 35 or More Weeks of Gestation PEDIATRICS  Vol. 114 No. 1  July 2004, pp 297-316