A Randomized, Controlled Evaluation of Early Postpartum Hospital Discharge

Abstract

At approximately 37 weeks' gestation, 131 women were randomly assigned to one of three postpartum hospital discharge times: 12 to 24 hours, 25 to 48 hours, and 4 days. Depending on group assignment, the women received from one to five home visits by a maternity nurse clinician during the first 10 days postpartum. The results indicated the maternal and infant morbidity were low regardless of discharge time, although sample sizes were too small to detect significant differences in the outcomes. More early discharge mothers were breastfeeding without supplement at 1 month than were mothers in the long stay group. Mothers in the two early discharge groups were significantly more satisfied with their care than were those who remained longer. Those hospitalized longer scored higher on measures of depression and lower on scores of confidence at selected time periods.

Effects of a Law against Early Postpartum Discharge on Newborn Follow-up, Adverse Events, and HMO Expenditures

“…3 The evidence for and against early discharge remains inconclusive. 9,[12][13][14] Most studies have involved small groups of randomized volunteers 15,16 or have used large data-base samples without control for possible effects of selection among newborns who are discharged early. Several studies have suggested that short stays are associated with an increased risk of death or readmission of the infant, 17,18 whereas others have found no effect.…”

Effectiveness of early clinical assessment and bilirubin estimation for prediction of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia

“…Early discharge of healthy new borns after delivery has become a common practice because of social reasons, medical and economic constraints. 3 However decreased length of hospital stay is found to increase the risk of readmission to the hospital. 4,5 This necessitates a study to identify the incidence of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in the present day community.…”

Inpatient length of stay: a finite mixture modeling analysis

“…Against this background, this paper attempts to identify risk factors for short-stay, medium-stay and long-stay subgroups of patients, and analyzes LOS as an indicator of the pressure on inpatient treatment, with a view to enhancing standardization of the curative healthcare delivery system in India. From both the physical and mental health perspectives of patients, the shorter the recovery time (in terms of shorter LOS), the more effective is the curative treatment [4][5][6].…”