Enhancement of Family-Centred Care Is Associated with a Reduction in Postmenstrual Age at Discharge in Preterm Infants.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Long hospitalisation has been recognized as an independent risk factor for poor neurodevelopmental outcomes of preterm infants. Systematic training and early inclusion of parents in their preterm infant's care is a strategy to shorten the length of hospital stay. We implemented an enhanced stepwise family-centred care program and assessed its effects on postmenstrual age (PMA) at discharge and parental satisfaction.

METHODS

This prospective single-centre longitudinal cohort study was carried out in a German level III neonatal unit from October 2020 to May 2023. Five consecutive 6-month cohorts (1 baseline and 4 intervention cohorts, 169 infants and their caregivers) were analysed.

RESULTS

Mean PMA at discharge did not change in the total cohort but declined significantly in patients without neonatal morbidities from baseline to cohort 4 (37.2 ± 1.4 to 36.1 ± 1.6 weeks; = 0.036). Concomitantly, discharge with tube feeding raised from 2.4% to 74.1% ( < 0.001) and discharge with home monitoring raised from 9.8% to 74.1% ( < 0.001), while unplanned readmissions remained unchanged ( = 0.44). Parental satisfaction with time point of discharge increased non-significantly from baseline to cohort 4 (75.8% vs. 95.7%; Chi 0.22).

CONCLUSIONS

Discharge of preterm infants at a significantly lower PMA is feasible through enhancement of family-centred care and is very well accepted by parents.