[Premature newborn: a case presentation]

A case is presented of a premature newborn of 27 weeks gestation and weighing 420 grams who was delivered as a result of a maternal pre-eclampsia and retarded intra-uterine growth. During the 125 days of hospitalisation, an individual care plan based on the Virginia Henderson model was devised and applied to both the child and her parents using NANDA diagnostics, interventions according to the NIC classification, and the expected results according to the NOC classification. The Marjory Gordon functional patterns were used for the initial assessment. By applying the pre-term newborn (PTNB) plan, all their needs were provided and were modified throughout the hospital stay, with new needs that were added to the established ones. These required a continuous assessment with the subsequent adapting of the care plan. Likewise, the care required by the parents varied from the initial grief due to the possible loss of their child to learning the alarm signs and the home care that their child would need. The child was finally discharged weighing 2900 grams and with normal neurological and psychomotor development, although with a lower weight appropriate to her age. Currently, at 2 years old, the child has a normal neurological and psychomotor development, but with weight and size lower than the P(3) percentile. She requires speech therapy treatment due to paralysis of the right vocal cord.