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A free parking trial to increase visitation and improve extremely low birth weight infant outcomes

Journal of Perinatology volume 36, pages 1112–1115 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

Frequent parental visits are likely to benefit infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), particularly extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ⩽1000 g) survivors. Parking costs (⩾$10 per visit in our center) may deter visitation, especially for low-income parents. We assessed whether free parking (FP) decreased survivors’ length of stay (LOS).

Study Design:

Parents (N=138) of ELBW infants (7 to 14 days old) were randomized to usual care (UC; n=66) or FP (n=72). The primary outcome was LOS.

Results:

Among survivors (n=116), LOS was not significantly less with FP than UC (means: FP=89, UC=102 days, P=0.22; medians: FP=82, UC=84 days, P=0.30). Groups did not differ significantly on proportion of visit days (FP=0.69, UC=0.72, P=0.47), parental involvement, knowledge/skills and satisfaction. Post hoc analyses found that parents with a greater income, a car and fewer children visited more.

Conclusion:

More potent interventions than FP are needed to increase parental visits and reduce LOS for ELBW infants in disadvantaged urban populations.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the diligence and dedication of Josephine Turner at the UTHealth Clinical Research Unit at Memorial Hermann-TMC, Michelle Celestin for her help preparing the references’ section of this manuscript and the staff of the UTHealth High-Risk Infant Clinic. This study was supported by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (NCATS UL1 TR000371 and UL1 RR 024148, PI=McPherson; NCATS KL2 TR000370 and KL2 RR 024149, PI=PWE). Data analysis and writing time by TFN were supported in part by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01 HL107404, PI=AL Stotts) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and Department of Health and Human Services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family and Community Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA

    T F Northrup

  2. Department of Pediatrics, UTHealth, McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA

    P W Evans, M L Lillie & J E Tyson

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  1. T F Northrup
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  2. P W Evans
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Correspondence to P W Evans.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Perinatology website

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Northrup, T., Evans, P., Lillie, M. et al. A free parking trial to increase visitation and improve extremely low birth weight infant outcomes. J Perinatol 36, 1112–1115 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2016.136

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