Newborn Screening Laboratory
This video is provided as an example of an approved blood collection procedure. While the State of Tennessee currently does business with PerkinElmer, Inc., the posting of this video is not an endorsement of the company.
The Tennessee Newborn Screening (NBS) Laboratory tests over 80,000 specimens each year. Tennessee Code Annotated Title 68, Chapter 5, Part 4 requires that all infants born in Tennessee receive screening for certain conditions. Laboratory tests are done to help find infants who may have one of the disorders or medical conditions.
Finding and treating these disorders early can prevent serious complications such as growth problems, developmental delays, deafness, blindness, intellectual disabilities, seizures, and sudden or early death.
The newborn screening tests require a simple heel stick blood sample collected from newborns between 24-36 hours after birth. If the screening result for one of the laboratory tests is outside of the expected range, the program's Newborn Screening Follow-up nurses will immediately begin follow-up. This often includes contacting the infant’s physician to initiate a repeat screen, confirmation of a diagnosis, and treatment from a specialist if necessary.
Newborn Screening Follow-up, housed in the Division of Family Health and Wellness, also provides parent resources and educational and training resources for providers.
The Newborn Screening Laboratory recieves samples and performs testing seven days per week.
Department hours:
Monday - Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: 7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Natus SRV serves as the portal for Newborn Screening remote data entry and retrieval of results from the Tennessee Department of Health Laboratory Services.
Dear providers, kindly click the link below to enter demographics remotely or to access and download Newborn Screening results:
For Filter Cards requests, please email DCLAB.supply@tn.gov or fax a request to (615) 262-6455.
Please be sure to include within your email or fax the following information:
- Facility name (Hospital name, not unit or floor designation)
- Shipping address
- Phone number
- Contact person
- Quantity requested
- Requisition form (Only required to be submitted by Health Departments)
- Carbamoyl Phosphate Synthetase I Deficiency (CPS I)
- Carnitine Acylcarnitine Translocase Deficiency (CACTD)
- Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase Type I Deficiency (CPT I)
- Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase Type II Deficiency (CPTII)
- Carnitine Uptake Defect (CUD)
- Citrullinemia Type I (CIT)
- Citrullinemia Type II (CIT II)
- Congenital Adrendal Hyperplasia I (CAH)
- Congenital Hypothyroidism (CH)
- Cystic Fibrosis (CF)