BACKGROUND: Premature @entity1 need to attain both medical stability and maturational milestones (specifically, independent thermoregulation, resolution of @entity386 , and the ability to feed by mouth) before safe discharge to home. Current practice also requires premature @entity1 to be observed in hospital before discharge for several days (margin of safety) after physiologic maturity is recognized. OBJECTIVE: To compare postmenstrual age (PMA) at discharge in a homogeneous population of premature @entity1 cared for in different neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and to assess the impact on hospital stay of the recognition and recording of physiologic maturity and the required margin of safety. METHODS: We studied premature @entity1 delivered at 30 to 34 6/7 weeks gestational age (GA), free of significant medical or surgical complications. Medical records of 30 eligible @entity1 consecutively discharged from the hospital before July 1997 from each of 15 NICUs in Massachusetts (9 level 2 and 6 level 3) were reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 435 @entity1 were included in the study sample. Mean (+/- standard deviation) GA and birth weight of the study population were 33.2 +/- 1.2 weeks and 2024 +/- 389 g, respectively. @entity1 were discharged at a similar PMA regardless of GA at birth. Considerable variation in the PMA at discharge between hospital sites was observed (range, 35.2 +/- 0.5 weeks to 36.5 +/- 1.2 weeks). Despite the homogeneous study population, hospitals in which @entity1 had the latest PMA at discharge also recorded mature cardiorespiratory and feeding behavior at an older age. Longer duration of pulse oximetry use was associated with later resolution of @entity386 . Differences in the duration of the margin of safety between sites did not contribute to variation in hospital stay. CONCLUSION: NICUs vary widely in length of hospital stay for healthy premature @entity1 . We speculate that this variation results in part from differences in monitoring for and documentation of @entity386 and feeding behavior.

Inter-neonatal intensive care unit variation in discharge timing: influence of XXXX and feeding management.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['infants', 'Infants'] @entity386 :: ('MESH:D001049', 'Disease') :: ['apnea', 'apnea of prematurity']
@entity386 :: (MESH:D001049,Disease) :: ['apnea']
