Parents whose babies are admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) need support.

 

Whether their baby’s stay is brief or long, uncomplicated or complex, a NICU stay changes how they care for their infant and how they will parent once they are discharged.

While we know a NICU stay is traumatic for most parents, the consequences of a family’s time spent in the NICU do not need to be negative ones.

Supportive NICU teams can use the time a family is in the NICU to engage in a well-designed discharge preparation and transition planning program.

These programs can have a lasting positive impact on both the infant’s health and the family’s wellbeing.

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Our goal was to create recommendations that are both general and adaptable

- while also being specific and actionable. 

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This model of discharge planning and care should begin pre-discharge (i.e., early in the NICU course),

continue during the transition process, and extend to the post-discharge period.

The goal is to provide a continuum of individualized, family-centered, and culturally competent support and education services that links the family to needed community resources.

 

With the publication of this supplement, the National Perinatal Association provides a state-of-the-art framework for achieving interdisciplinary guidelines and recommendations for NICU Discharge Preparation and Transition Planning.