Enhancing early discharge with home follow-up: a pilot project

Although early hospital discharge of mothers and infants reduces health care costs, it also decreases the opportunities for women to learn the mothering role with the help of health care providers. This article describes the development of a program in which hospital staff nurses provide follow-up care to new mothers and their infants in the home. In addition, it compares the nonroutine health care expenditures in the postpartum period of mother-infant dyads receiving this service and of dyads who did not.