What follow-up care should we provide for parents after an infant’s NICU stay ends?
Shaw: Parents should be carefully evaluated and offered appropriate psychological support. They should be educated about warning signs in themselves—insomnia, nightmares, irritability, etc.—and involved in hospital-based parent support groups. They also benefit greatly from advice from other parents who have gone through similar NICU experiences. Packard Children’s, for example, has a Parent Mentor Program to provide support of this nature. In addition, to further research in this area, we have recently submitted a grant to study the usefulness of brief, supportive psychotherapy for NICU parents. The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation’s top 10 medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. For info
