Authors' objectives:

To provide an overview of activities and problems concerning extremely preterm infants, and thereby forward the diffusion of expert knowledge to the public.

Authors' recommendations: More research on the consequences of extremely premature birth should be made. Information given to parents should be improved upon, and a line should be drawn as to when immature infants should be treated. The panel suggests a lower limit of gestation age of 25 or 26 completed weeks. The physical setting and the psychical conditions for parents should be improved, during as well as after the infant's stay in the neonatal unit. Parents ought to be offered acute psychological support, maybe therapy, both in the immediate situation and at later stages. Specialist groups at the neonatal unit ought to have the possibility of intensive supplementary courses to handle the generally difficult communication with parents. Simultaneously, they ought to have psychological supervision at their disposal. A group of various "outside" experts should be attached to each neonatal unit as a resource with whom to discuss ethical questions. Other output or dissemination activity: Impact not evaluated

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.dsi.dk/

Year Published: 1990

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Denmark

Organisation Name: Danish Institute for Health Services Research

Contact Address: DSI, PO Box 2595, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark Tel: +45 35 29 8400; Fax: +45 35 29 8499

Contact Name: hhj@dsi.dk

Contact Email: hhj@dsi.dk

Copyright: Danish Institute for Health Services Research (DSI)