After discharge from the intensive care nursery: what then for the neonatologist?

The field of neonatology is expanding in many aspects. Not only is care of the neonatal patient evolving, but there now is also the need for follow-up long after the neonatal period. The neonatologist has ever increasing roles in preparing patients for discharge, communicating with all relevant follow-up care givers, updating them with advances in the field of neonatology as it relates to follow-up care, and coordinating whatever medical and developmental follow-up is necessary to guarantee that all the effort spent during an ICN stay will not be wasted by unaddressed, potentially preventable problems arising after discharge.