Abstract
Poster presented on: Sunday, November 17, 2013, Saturday, November 16, 2013: At a large academic children's hospital in the South over 50% of the NICU babies were not returning Newborn Follow-up clinic for their appointments. Failure to attend follow-up appointments for a high-risk neonate can jeopardize early interventions to promote optimal growth and development. The purpose of this investigation was to examine why NICU babies were not returning to their appointments at the Newborn Follow-up clinic. A retrospective chart review was conducted of NICU patients (N = 527) discharged from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. The chart review focused on variables that might potentially impact the ability of parents to bring their baby in for a follow-up appointment. Variables that were explored in the chart review included: Infant diagnosis, gestational age, severity of infant health status and demographic data. Data were dichotomized for analysis using logistic regression. Analysis of data revealed only 27% of NICU patients discharged from January1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 had an appointment made for the follow-up clinic. Yet, eighty percent of the total patients discharged during this time frame returned to a specialty clinic. Factors influencing compliance with the Newborn Follow-up include: other clinic referrals, maternal age 13-24; gestational age less than 37 weeks and a discharge diagnosis of hydrocephalus. The limited number of follow-up appointments that were made is suggested as one explanation for the low return rate to the Newborn Follow-up clinic. The findings also support the need to re-evaluate discharge appointment criteria that have been established for the clinic.
Sigma Membership
Eta Nu
Lead Author Affiliation
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Discharge, Follow-up, NICU
Recommended Citation
Mullins-Thompson, Jane; Harris, Margaret Sharon; and Snethen, Julia, "Factors influencing failure to comply with follow-up care for high-risk newborns" (2013). Convention. 2.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/convention/2013/presentations_2013/2
Conference Name
42nd Biennial Convention
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2013
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Factors influencing failure to comply with follow-up care for high-risk newborns
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Poster presented on: Sunday, November 17, 2013, Saturday, November 16, 2013: At a large academic children's hospital in the South over 50% of the NICU babies were not returning Newborn Follow-up clinic for their appointments. Failure to attend follow-up appointments for a high-risk neonate can jeopardize early interventions to promote optimal growth and development. The purpose of this investigation was to examine why NICU babies were not returning to their appointments at the Newborn Follow-up clinic. A retrospective chart review was conducted of NICU patients (N = 527) discharged from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. The chart review focused on variables that might potentially impact the ability of parents to bring their baby in for a follow-up appointment. Variables that were explored in the chart review included: Infant diagnosis, gestational age, severity of infant health status and demographic data. Data were dichotomized for analysis using logistic regression. Analysis of data revealed only 27% of NICU patients discharged from January1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 had an appointment made for the follow-up clinic. Yet, eighty percent of the total patients discharged during this time frame returned to a specialty clinic. Factors influencing compliance with the Newborn Follow-up include: other clinic referrals, maternal age 13-24; gestational age less than 37 weeks and a discharge diagnosis of hydrocephalus. The limited number of follow-up appointments that were made is suggested as one explanation for the low return rate to the Newborn Follow-up clinic. The findings also support the need to re-evaluate discharge appointment criteria that have been established for the clinic.
Description
42nd Biennial Convention 2013 Theme: Give Back to Move Forward. Held at the JW Marriott