Early postpartum discharge--an alternative to traditional hospital care

In a predictive study of early postpartum discharge data were collected to justify a proposal that was being developed by a city hospital and the Local Board of Health to provide maternity care for women who wished to be discharged early from hospital following childbirth. In this paper the findings of the predictive study are presented and then compared with the findings from the evaluation of the project which was implemented by the hospital and the Local Board of Health. Overall, the findings from the predictive study were accurate when compared to the findings from the evaluation study. The similarity of findings in both studies demonstrates the value of undertaking a predictive study prior to planning changes in delivery of health care to a specific population.