Telemedicine Follow-Up Appointments After NICU Discharge May Facilitate Easier Transition to Home

Infants who require a stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) may require significantly higher levels of care once they are ready for discharge. Although providers try to ensure a smooth transition to home, caregivers may not be fully prepared for home life and may need questions or concerns addressed before their follow-up appointments. Providing telemedicine (TM) visits shortly after NICU discharge may ease these issues and improve care.

The primary aim of this quality improvement project was to obtain family feedback on potential benefits of post-NICU discharge TM visits conducted by a neonatal nurse practitioner. A secondary aim was to determine if a recent change in the nutrition discharge process was beneficial to caregivers.

All infants discharged from the NICU who had a TM appointment (N = 35) from April to December 2022 were eligible for the telephone interview. Semi-structured caregiver interviews were conducted with the team dietitian by telephone within 2 weeks of the TM FU.

Of those who had TM appointments, 30 families participated in the interviews (85.7%), and 28 (93.3%) reported finding the visits beneficial.

Families found TM visits after NICU discharge to be beneficial. TM visits may serve as a safety net for families who at the time of NICU discharge do not yet realize the types of challenges that they will face once home.