? About NICU follow up Appointment...

jlc071903

What did they do at yours? We received a letter in the mail about ours (it's next THursday) saying that it could take anywhere from 1-3 hours and to bring evaluations for EI stuff or additional medical evals that have been performed on the girls..WHY is this. Is this appointment REALLY necessary? What's really the purpose? Do they often catch stuff that pedi's miss? Is this to close out their NICU files or what?

TIA

NotJustAnAuntie

Ours was a couple of hours long... we basically sat in a room and people filed through... we saw the neonatologist, neurologist, opthamologist, dietician, social worker and preemie clinic coordinator. It was just so everyone could check in and see how he was doing... he passed everything with flying colors; only the dietician changed anything; she just upped his calories from 22 to 24... it was a long day, bring snacks and toys and stuff, but it's nothing too bad.

preemieparent

Every NICU does their follow-up appointments differently.  Many of them have different specialists there to check on your kids however some just do a quick assessment.    Either way the purpose of most NICU follow-up appointments is two fold.  On one hand it is an opportunity for your kids to see a variety of specialists that may catch things that other general docs (like a pedi) miss.   They can also provide you feedback on how your babies are doing developmentally, etc.  On the other hand, it is an opportunity for them to see how your babies are doing medically and in general.  

When you were in the NICU did they provide you with any stats or information about how babies generally do when they are born at the same gestational age as your baby?  Did you find that information useful? 

That information (especially any hospital specific data) comes from the NICU follow up appointments.    The hospital/NICU use outcome information to help them better inform parents as well as their own staff.   Before our daughter as born the neonatologist was able to break down specifically what percentage of babies born at 24 weeks simply survived birth, had any issues and at what degree. I found that information incedibly useful when it came to making a decision about our daughter.    Even though I really don't like the women that do the follow-up at our NICU, I always go so that they can include Olivia's information in their stats/results for other families in the future.

BabyDavison

We don't even get one of these- I'm not sure why but, definitely no NICU follow up here.

jlc071903

Thanks guys..I was just curious...I figured it was valuable, but it seems so redundant as we've already had tons of evals from other people (OT, Speech, Nutritionist)...so maybe we'll have a shorter visit than 3 hours.  I told DH that the point of the appt. was for the girls to perform!

ruthiewith

I've been to 2 follow-up appointments so far and they haven't been too bad. ?Women and Infants in Providence does about 4 appointments during the first year. ?The first appointment was about 2 hours long and wasn't bad at all. ?We met with several docs and nurses. ?My son also sees a therapist through EI, but it's totally separate. ?Good luck! ?