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Neonatal intensive care in the home
1Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., USA.
As the trend toward early discharge and home care of medically fragile neonates continues, parents find themselves thrust into a lifestyle for which they are unprepared. They must quickly adjust to a new daily routine and new home environment. They watch as part of their home is transformed into a mini intensive care unit with the kind of high-tech equipment and supplies once exclusively reserved for hospital settings. Parents also must learn to live with limited privacy because home care nurses and other providers become a visible presence and a daily reminder that their lives have been forever altered.
As the trend toward early discharge and home care of medically fragile neonates continues, parents find themselves thrust into a lifestyle for which they are unprepared. They must quickly adjust to a new daily routine and new home environment. They watch as part of their home is transformed into a mini intensive care unit with the kind of high-tech equipment and supplies once exclusively reserved for hospital settings. Parents also must learn to live with limited privacy because home care nurses and other providers become a visible presence and a daily reminder that their lives have been forever altered.