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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Dec;36(12):1112-1115.
doi: 10.1038/jp.2016.136. Epub 2016 Sep 22.

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

T F Northrup  1 , P W Evans  2 , M L Lillie  2 , J E Tyson  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

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

T F Northrup et al. J Perinatol. 2016 Dec.

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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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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