Newborn Screening Ontario (NSO) prepares to implement screening for critical congenital heart defects (CCHDs) in all newborns born in Ontario. Janet Marcadier, a genetic counsellor at NSO, recognizes the particular challenges of implementing a point-of-care newborn screening test that will be performed by submitters (nurses, midwives) across the province. The other 29 conditions screened for by NSO do not involve a point-of-care test but rather testing is done in the NSO laboratory. While standardization for a provincial program is important, there are many contextual factors that will impact CCHD screening implementation at each specific birth site. Interdisciplinary collaboration among health care providers will be essential in implementation. How could NSO foster interdisciplinary collaboration through implementation planning? NSO needs to consider how primary care teams are often dynamic and include different health care providers depending on the needs of the patient. Would interdisciplinary collaboration help to ensure screening compliance among submitters? By applying concepts of implementation research, context-specific protocols can be developed for interdisciplinary teams at different birth sites in Ontario
