Developmental Follow-up

[RNnicu4]

Hello everyone. I've been lurking around these forums for a while and am now finally making my first post!

I currently work in a Level IV NICU that is part of a Children's Hospital. Our unit is fairly large and the types of patients we see varies greatly (preemies, ECMO, Hypothermia/Cooling, surgery patients, etc). Patients get appointments to follow up with their respective services post discharge (neurology, surgery, GI...). We don't seem to have much of a cohesive 'developmental' follow up where someone touches base with how the child is doing overall.

When I was in nursing school one of my practicum days was shadowing an RN who was the "NICU developmental follow up nurse". This was at a small community hospital that had Level II/III NICU support. It was a separate facility from the hospital that provided a play based program to screen former NICU patients up to preschool age and pair them with any needed interventions or services.

My overall question for the forum is - is this type of developmental follow up resource commonly associated with your NICUs? Is it beneficial? It seemed like such a nice resource at the time (through inexperienced student eyes) and still seems so now (through mild-moderately experienced RN eyes).

[babyNP., APRN]

I'm surprised that your facility (especially a children's hospital) doesn't have developmental follow up in place (unless it's run by the state?) I would say that it's pretty standard- ask one of your charge nurses if you're newer to this facility. Generally there are guidelines for who qualifies, like micropreemies or major surgical babies.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We follow our kids until they are 3. We have a special care clinic that our fellows run. You'd be surprised how many places don't follow their grads.

[RNnicu4]

Thank you both for your replies! BabyNP - you bring up a good point about this possibly being something that is state driven. We see babies from multiple states - so perhaps the follow up logistics are easier after patients get settled in their home state. I will ask around a bit more because I truly am curious :) That sounds like a nice program NicuGal. It really does seem to vary in what hospitals offer post discharge.