title: Safety of newborn discharge in less than 36 hours in an indigent population.
abstract: The safety of a moderately early newborn discharge program and the ability to follow up within 48 hours of release was evaluated in an indigent population from our institution. A retrospective chart review of 2000 consecutive admissions to our normal newborn nursery was conducted to determine the following: (1) length of nursery stay; (2) reason for extension of nursery stay beyond 36 hours; (3) documentation of outpatient follow-up within 48 hours of discharge for infants released within 36 hours of birth; and (4) incidence of and reason for readmission to the hospital within one week of initial discharge. A total of 1091 infants (54.6%) were discharged within 24 to 36 hours of birth, with documentation of outpatient follow-up in 994 (91.1%). Twenty-five (2.3%) of the early discharges required readmission within seven days of initial discharge compared with a 0.89% incidence among infants hospitalized greater than 48 hours. Twenty-four of the 25 readmissions did have outpatient follow-up, and no serious complications occurred. The data demonstrate that moderately early neonatal discharge can be safely accomplished in an indigent population with the aid of a successful outpatient follow-up program.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Wilkening
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008489:Medical Indigency; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010359:Patient Readmission