Early postnatal discharge from hospital for healthy mothers and term infants
Open accessAbstract
Background Length of postnatal hospital stay has declined dramatically in the past thirty years. There is ongoing controversy concerning whether or not staying less time in hospital is harmful or beneficial. Objectives The objective of this review was to assess the safety, impact and effectiveness of a policy of early discharge for healthy mothers and term infants, with respect to the health and well-being of mothers and babies, satisfaction with postnatal care, overall costs of health care and broader impacts on families. Search strategy We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group trials register (April 2002), the Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Review Group specialised register of clinical trials, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (The Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2001), MEDLINE (1966 to 2001), CINAHL (1982 to 2001), EMBASE (1988 to 1993) and reference lists of articles. Selection criteria Randomized trials comparing early discharge from hospital of healthy mothers and term infants, of greater than or equal to 2500 grams, with standard care in the settings in which trials were conducted. Data collection and analysis Trial quality was assessed and data were abstracted independently by all five reviewers. Main results Eight trials were identified involving 3600 women. There was substantial variation in the definition of 'early discharge', and the extent of antenatal preparation and midwife home care following discharge offered to women in intervent…
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Worldwide, there is a trend towards shortened length of stay (LOS).
“Worldwide, there is a trend towards shortened length of stay (LOS) (Brown, et al., 2002).”
From A systematic approach towards the development of quality indicators for postnatal care after discharge in Flanders, Belgium (2017) · cites this paper as Brown, et al., 2002
The new model of postnatal care was promoted by hospital management because of overcrowding in the postnatal wards and it was presumed to be a cheaper alternative than keeping mothers in the postnatal wards.
“The new model of postnatal care was promoted by hospital management because i) of overcrowding in the postnatal wards and ii) it was presumed to be a cheaper alternative than keeping mothers in the postnatal wards ( Brown et al. 2002 ).”
From Mothers´ experiences in relation to a new Swedish postnatal home-based model of midwifery care–A cross-sectional study (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al. 2002
Staying in postnatal care for under 48 h is considered to be an early discharge.
“Since staying in postnatal care for under 48 h is considered to be an early discharge ( Brown et al., 2002 )”
From Mothers´ experiences in relation to a new Swedish postnatal home-based model of midwifery care–A cross-sectional study (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al., 2002
The policy of early postnatal discharge of healthy mothers and term infants does not appear to have adverse effects when combined with a home visit by a midwife following birth.
“The policy of early postnatal discharge of healthy mothers and term infants does not appear to have adverse effects when combined with a home visit by a midwife following birth (Brown et al., 2002).”
From Women's experiences of home visits by midwives in the early postnatal period (2016) · cites this paper as Brown et al., 2002
Early postnatal discharge of healthy mothers and term infants does not appear to have adverse effects on breastfeeding or maternal depression when women are offered at least one nurse-midwife home visit after discharge.
“Early postnatal discharge of healthy mothers and term infants does not appear to have adverse effects on breastfeeding or maternal depression when women are offered at least one nurse-midwife home visit after discharge (Brown 2002).”
From Schedules for home visits in the early postpartum period (2021) · cites this paper as Brown 2002
In high-resource settings, healthy women and babies are frequently discharged from hospital within one or two days of the birth, and in low-resource settings women may be discharged within hours of the birth, or may give birth at home.
“In high-resource settings, healthy women and babies are frequently discharged from hospital within one or two days of the birth, and in low-resource settings women may be discharged within hours of the birth, or may give birth at home (Brown 2002).”
From Schedules for home visits in the early postpartum period (2021) · cites this paper as Brown 2002
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References 57 · Cited by 253
- Authors
- Brown, S., Small, R., Argus, B., Davis, P. G., & Krastev, A.
- Affiliations
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute (AU)
- La Trobe University (AU)
- Royal Women's Hospital (AU)
- Venue
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2002-07-22
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- CD002958-CD002958
- ISSN
- 1361-6137 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-1858
- PMC
- PMC8185906
- OpenAlex
- W1874832584
- Cited by
- 253
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 1.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- new_version (2021-06-08)
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Development and Preterm Care
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Keywords
- length of hospital stay, term infants, neonatal readmission, neonatal morbidity, neonatal jaundice, neonatal infection, breastfeeding, maternal outcomes, infant outcomes, midwifery care, antenatal preparation, discharge policy, risk of bias, quality of evidence, heterogeneous effects
- MeSH terms
- Female, Humans, Infant, Length of Stay, Pregnancy, Postpartum Period
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