Vincent C. Smith, MD, MPH; Kristy Love; Erika Goyer, BA
Background
When families reflect upon their experiences preparing to transition from the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to home, most families generally do not use the terms “joyful,” “easy,” “perfect,” or “stress-free.” More often, families use terms like “abrupt,” “sudden,” “lonely,” and “scary.” In truth, some families wonder if they even had a discharge preparation plan at all.
They, however, should have had a plan because the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has set clear expectations. The AAP recommends that the transition to home occur when the infant achieves physiologic maturity, and there is an active program for parental involvement and preparation for care of the infant at home. (1) The AAP does not, however, provide much detail about the program for parental preparation. This may be the crux of the issue or source of the problem. While we know that parents need to be prepared, we have not put programs in place to prepare them.
The National Perinatal Association (NPA) hopes to help fill that gap. NPA formed an interdisciplinary work group that developed universal, adaptable, evidence-informed guidelines for NICU discharge preparation and transition planning in response to the unmet need for a program for thoughtful discharge preparation and transition planning. NPA hopes that NICU families and staff will find the guidelines beneficial, useful, and pertinent. Ideally, these guidelines will assist staff in providing clear and consistent messages of both action and guidance for parents and families and provide a systematic approach to required tasks and advanced planning of discharge teaching prior to their anticipated discharge. NPA hopes these guidelines will provide more uniformity in discharge preparation and reduce uncertainty and stress with the discharge preparation and transition planning process.
[READ ABOUT THE NICU Discharge Planning Guidelines IN ARTICLE BELOW]
Coming soon: NICUtohome.org is your source for the tools and information you need to put the Interdisciplinary Guidelines and Recommendations for NICU Discharge Preparation and Transition Planning into action.
References:
1. American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Fetus and Newborn. Pediatrics. 2008;122(5):1119-26
2. Smith VC, Hwang SS, Dukhovny D, Young S, Pursley DM. Neonatal intensive care unit discharge preparation, family readiness and infant outcomes: connecting the dots. J Perinatol 2013 Jun;33(6):415-21.
Special Thanks to Our Steering Committee: Vincent C. Smith, MD, MPH (Chair), Kristy Love, Erin Armknecht, BA, Patti Bridges, MSW, LCSW, Joy Browne, Ph.D., PCNS, IMH-E (IV), Brigitte Desport, DPS, ATP, OTR/L, Jenene Craig PhD, MBA, OTR/L, Heidi Gates, RN, Cristal Grogan, Carol Jaeger, DNP, RN, Trudi Murch Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Heather Cohen Padratzik, MHA, JD, Cuyler Romeo, M.O.T., OTR, SCFES, CLC, Betty Vohr, MD, Tiffany N Willis, PsyD, Julia Yeary, LCSW, IMH-E®
Sponsorship: The funding for the discharge guidelines was provided to National Perinatal Association by private donations and supported by an educational grant provided by Sobi.
Disclosure: The authors have no conflicts of interest