title: Parents' compliance with specific medical instructions in newborn discharge letters.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Due to decreased hospital stay, follow-up of unresolved medical problems of babies with uncomplicated postpartum course is relegated to outpatient clinics.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To identify factors in discharge letters that influence parent compliance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Telephone contact with parents three months after discharge queried compliance with routine and special instructions as written in discharge letters. Statistical analyses compared responses of compliant versus less compliant parents. P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. The present study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Review Board Committee.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 2000 discharge letters, 319 (16%) included special instructions. Parents of 252 infants (79%) who received discharge letters containing 332 special instructions were interviewed by telephone. Compliance was greater for noninvasive instructions (86%) relative to others (57.8%) (P<0.001). Initiation of follow-up visits was correlated with parity (P<0.001) and maternal age (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Discharge letters should be read and discussed with parents before infants are discharged, and the relevance of specific medical instructions should be emphasized.
authors: Department of Neonatology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and Faculty of Health, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem;
authors: Michael S
authors: MS
authors: Schimmel
authors: Netanel
authors: N
authors: Wasserteil
authors: Zvi H
authors: ZH
authors: Perry
authors: Matti
authors: M
authors: Erlichman