A Free Parking Trial to Increase Visitation and Improve Extremely Low Birth Weight Infant Outcomes

OBJECTIVE: Frequent parental visits are likely to benefit infants in a neonatal ICU (NICU), particularly extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ≤1000g) survivors. Parking costs (≥$10/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 (7–14 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.