Are families prepared for discharge from the NICU?

Abstract

Objective: (1) Quantify and compare the family's and the nurse's perception regarding the family's discharge preparedness. (2) Determine which elements contribute to a family's discharge preparedness.Study Design: We studied the families of all the infants discharged from a neonatal intensive care unit after a minimum of a 2-week admission. The families rated their overall discharge preparedness with a 9-point Likert scale on the day of discharge. Independently, the discharging nurse evaluated the family's discharge preparedness. Families were considered discharge 'prepared' if they rated themselves and the nurse rated their technical and emotional preparedness as X7 on the Likert scale.Result: We had 867 (58%) family-nurse pairs who completed the survey. Most families (87%) were prepared for discharge as assessed by the concordant questionnaire (Likert scores of X7 by the parent and the nurse). In multivariate analysis, confidence in their child's health and maturity (odds ratios, OR ¼ 2.5 95% confidence interval, CI (1.2, 5.3)), their readiness for their infants to come home (OR ¼ 2.9 95% CI (1.0, 8.3)), and selecting a pediatrician (OR ¼ 4.2 95% CI (1.6, 11.0)) were statistically significant. Conclusion:Assistance with pediatrician selection and home preparation may improve the percentage of families prepared for discharge.

Paternal and Maternal Concerns for Their Very Low-Birth-Weight Infants Transitioning From the NICU to Home

“…In a later commentary by Shonkoff 35 on this seminal work, he emphasizes the importance of what healthcare providers say to parents and when it is said, highlighting the role communication between parents and providers plays in the short and long term. 39 Community clinicians who are aware of the potential reservations parents of NICU graduates may be having about the transfer of care may address this via a brief phone call prior to discharge or at the first office visit as a way to assuage parental concerns. 38 Thus, identifying ways to address the uncertainty inherent in giving birth to a VLBW infant and how these feelings may increase as the support net of the NICU is withdrawn following discharge would benefit parents and infants.…”

Communicating with parents in neonatal intensive care units: The impact on parental stress

“…Stress in parents may hinder identification with this new parental role, which Miles and colleagues describe as stress in 'parental role alteration' [4,14,15]. To reduce stress and enable this parental role alteration, clinical staff are prompted to apply well-established principles of Family-Centred Care (FCC) [16][17][18][19][20][21]. FCC aims to consider special needs in individual care by expanding the view from the patient only to include the whole of the patient's family.…”

The Development of Nursing Care Services Model for Low Birth Weight Infants

“…Orang tua dipersiapkan untuk mampu merawat bayinya melalui suatu proses perencanaan pulang. Perencanaan pulang telah diidentifi kasi dapat menurunkan rawat ulang dan meningkatkan percaya diri orang tua dalam merawat bayinya di rumah (Smith, et al, 2009). Perencanaan pulang yang terorganisir dan diimplementasikan dengan baik merupakan keberhasilan awal dari suatu asuhan lanjutan ( follow-up care) (Allen, Donahue, & Porter, 2002).…”