Home Visits by NICU Nurses to Pregnant Women / 日本農村医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

Regular visits by an NICU nurse to the high-risk pregnant woman (at ahigh risk of complications) are very effective in allaying the anxiety of her family and supporting the family after childbirth as well. To provide the home-visit services that measure up to the needs of such pregnant women and their families, we analyzed the contents of the services and discuss the present state of affairs and problems yet to be solved.Using the applications presented by 62 families for the home-visit services and their reports, a survey was conducted to find out the family backgrounds, the recipients of the services other than pregnant mothers, and their expectations from the home-visit program.Of the families of those pregnant women who were admitted later into the Neonate Intensive Care Unit, 19.1% had been visited by NICU nurses while the expectant mothers were in the maternity ward. Of those expectant mothers, 81% were in the 35 weeks or less of gestation. The anxiety of the women who are very likely to be put in the NICU and their family members is great. Pregnant women and their family members who both recieved the home-visit services accounted for 71% of the 62 families. It was found that they were most anxious to know about the growth and developmental disorders of the unborn babies, prognosis, hospital charges and the process of giving birth. From this, we deemed it highly important for visiting nurses to put themselves in their shoes and share in their feeling toward the neonates. This will surely help them strength the ties that bind the family members together. The nurses are required to have leadership qualities with adequate knowledge of NICU and perinatology.