Newborn Clinic: A Novel Model to Provide Timely, Comprehensive Care to Newborns Following Nursery Discharge

Abstract

Ensuring safe and timely follow-up after well baby nursery (WBN) discharge is an ongoing challenge. This study demonstrates the efficacy of a novel model for follow-up, the Newborn Clinic (NBC), in reducing time to outpatient follow-up after WBN discharge. Our retrospective chart review of 17 952 newborns found that time to follow-up visit decreased significantly following NBC establishment. Emergency department visits, a marker of infant morbidity, were slightly increased in the post-establishment cohort. There was no difference, however, in hospital readmissions. Analysis within the post-establishment cohort showed that newborns with jaundice, a high-risk group, were much more likely to have early follow-up if their visit was scheduled with NBC. Our study demonstrates that NBC is an effective model for decreasing time from WBN discharge to follow-up visit. It should be considered as an initiative to run concurrently with expedited newborn discharge initiatives so that safe follow-up need not be sacrificed.