Improving neonatal resource use through early discharge: Experience of a tertiary neonatal unit with a dedicated neonatal community team

Hospital‐assisted home care after early discharge from a Swedish neonatal intensive care unit was safe and readmissions were rare

“…To our knowledge, there have been no studies that have investigated the safety and characteristics of readmission in a HANHC setting similar to the present study. Previous HANHC studies, but with smaller populations and shorter time frames, have suggested that HANHC is safe . The main finding in our study was a readmission rate of 5.2%, which indicated that HANHC was a safe form of care in our setting.…”

“…The care is administered at home, with the parents acting as the primary caregivers and receiving support from specialised neonatal nurses on a daily to weekly basis. Early discharge followed by HANHC has been shown to reduce the length of hospital stay, decrease costs and increase the availability of NICU beds .…”

Early Discharge from the Neonatal Unit with Nasogastric Tube Feeding: Does not Mean Isolated Working

“…The point highlighted by the authors of a savings of £64260 in 4 months, advocates the importance of having community neonatal nurse/family care nurse to follow up and support the families. Similarly, Dixon et al [5] reviewed data from their community neonatal service between 2005 to 2008 of infants discharged from the neonatal unit, including nasogastric tube feeding. It can be seen from the analysis of Dixon et al [5] that early discharge from the neonatal unit of preterm infants with the follow up of a community neonatal team has not shown any reductions in the breastfeeding rates, however improved discharge planning, reduced readmission to hospital and finally a cost saving of £860000 (if the infant had been in hospital with NGT for 2059 days) [5].…”

“…Similarly, Dixon et al [5] reviewed data from their community neonatal service between 2005 to 2008 of infants discharged from the neonatal unit, including nasogastric tube feeding. It can be seen from the analysis of Dixon et al [5] that early discharge from the neonatal unit of preterm infants with the follow up of a community neonatal team has not shown any reductions in the breastfeeding rates, however improved discharge planning, reduced readmission to hospital and finally a cost saving of £860000 (if the infant had been in hospital with NGT for 2059 days) [5]. The programme discussed by Bathie and Shaw [1] identifies that early discharge home with Nasogastric tube feeding from the neonatal unit, is only successful if a multi-agency team agrees on the goals set, in order to achieve this level of success.…”

“…The programme discussed by Bathie and Shaw [1] identifies that early discharge home with Nasogastric tube feeding from the neonatal unit, is only successful if a multi-agency team agrees on the goals set, in order to achieve this level of success. The value of multi-agency working has been highlighted numerous times in organisational policies and procedures, as a process of sharing confidential information and a form of good practice to create a secure environment for the vulnerable preterm baby [5,6].…”