Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has launched a postpartum depression screening program for new mothers, the Lebanon, N.H.-based system said Feb. 16.
Typically, women are screened immediately after they give birth and at a six- to eight-week postpartum checkup. Through the new program, women will complete a screening questionnaire via a secure tablet before their infant's 2-week, 2-month, 4-month and 6-month checkups with pediatricians. If a woman screens positive for postpartum depression, pediatricians can connect her to her primary care physician or a referred mental health provider.
Pediatricians at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Manchester, N.H., have seen an increase in postpartum depression during the pandemic attributed to isolation, lack of sleep and natural hormone imbalances, the health system said in a news release emailed to Becker's.
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