The Framework of NICU-discharge Plan System for Preterm Infants in Iran: Duties, Components and Capabilities

INTRODUCTION: The development of comprehensive discharge plan system Not only, will facilitate the discharge process, increase staff and parent satisfaction, improve the care of preterm infants, also reduce the human error. AIM: to determine duties, components and capabilities of NICU discharge plan system as a multidimensional tool for facilitating the complex process of transition preterm infants to the home and support parents for post-discharge care. METHOD: The descriptive and qualitative study conducted in 2017. Firstly by literature review, components of framework were determined in 38 statements under 3 major themes: duties, components, and capabilities and then related questionnaire was provided. Cronbach’s alpha test was used to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. The result was more than 0.82 for all statements of questionnaire. The validity of the instrument was determined based on concepts in the valid scientific texts and comments of experts. The analysis was performed using SPSS software. RESULT: In overall, 29 experts participated in the consensus process. In the duties section, all of the statements reach more than 50% consensus. Among statements of the components and capabilities consensus was achieved in 12 out of 17, 12 out of 16 statements respectively. CONCLUSION: according to survey, checkout infant readiness determined as the main duty of the system. Alarm message for special examination before discharge and parent readiness checklist considered as the most important components. The ability to send alarm message, register and log in system were the key capabilities of the discharge system.