A postnatal nurse home visiting program may help improve population-level infant health care and reduce the number of emergency department visits, according to a study published in Pediatrics.
Researchers at the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University in Durham, N.C., implemented a nurse intervention called "Durham Connects" to randomly assigned births over an 18 month period. The intervention gave families three to seven nurse contacts between three and 12 weeks after birth who would discuss new parent educational briefs, assess health and psychosocial risks and provide community support and contact.
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Families assigned the nurse intervention had 50 percent fewer emergency care events from birth to 12 months than the control group. Additionally, intervention families had 85 percent fewer overnight hospital stays than control families.
Researchers noted that the 50 percent reduction in emergency care events spanned all variables of intervention families, including whether or not they were insured, ethnicity and single and two-parent families.
The intervention cost $700 per family, which researchers say is much lower than potential medical costs during the first 12 months.
Researchers suggest short-term home nurse visits are a viable option to improve infant health and significantly reduce community healthcare costs.
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