Parents of infants with critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) who find themselves overwhelmed by the prospect of taking their child home from the hospital have a new ally in the form of pediatric nurses.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Children's Healthcare of Atlanta has developed a rooming-in program for parents of infants with CCHD, which allows them to stay with their child for 24 hours prior to leaving the hospital so nurses can help them learn the skills they'll need to care for the child in their own home.
"It gives us a sense of peace of mind, satisfaction to know that 'OK I feel good about that child going home; that mom really gets it,'" one study participant wrote of the rooming-in program in the American Journal of Critical Care.
"It also helps [nurses] to know that we're not sending babies into medically complex conditions, and competent in their ability to provide training and education to caregivers," principal investigator Jenna Shackleford says in a press release.
The rooming-in program is believed to be the first of its kind, according to the Journal-Constitution.
Researchers say parents of infants with CCHD experience higher levels of distress than do parents of healthy children, according to the study, which
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