Discharge Education in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit cares for many babies with varying gestation ages, weights, and conditions. Planning of discharge occurs from the first day of hospitalization. Throughout the stay, ongoing education is provided. Discharge education provides information to families on how to safely care for their child independently at home; it helps minimize the risk of morbidity and mortality of the infant. This scholarly project was conducted to analyze current research to determine how integrating video and technology in discharge education compared to traditional methods affect parent confidence. A review of current literature was conducted of scholarly peer-reviewed articles. The literature search resulted in a review of qualitative research, interviews, and observational studies, and practice recommendations. The literature suggests that the utilization of technology, such as videos, presents the information in an easier way to understand and apply to infant care with increased confidence. A combination of written, video materials, and bedside teaching can help address diversity in parent learning styles and has been found to be more effective in terms of comprehension compared to written material and bedside teaching alone.