Neonatal drug exposure: assessing a specific population and services provided by visiting nurses

Historically, community health nurses have provided nursing services to infants who were exposed to licit and illicit drugs in utero and their mothers. The charts of 145 infants whose mothers had a history of drug and alcohol abuse and who were referred to a visiting nurse agency between 1988 and 1994 were reviewed for this study. Of the infants who were reported to have been exposed to drugs in utero, 69% were exposed to cocaine, 11% to heroin, and 6% to marijuana. The average age of the mothers was 26 years; 83.4% were single; 82.1% received Aid for Families of Dependent Children (AFDC); 92.4% were on Medicaid; and 95.9% were involved with child protective services. The most frequent nursing problems identified were (a) maternal-child attachment, (b) sleep patterns, (c) infant feeding, and (d) infant development. Nursing interventions included nutritional management, physical assessment, monitoring growth and development, and education in parenting skills. Fifty percent of the infants increased their weight by at least one percentile and 31% increased two percentiles. Resolution of nursing problems occurred in 50% of the cases.