This paper is part two of a series of papers written by the mothers of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduates. The companion paper, "Parent Perspectives: Part 1-Considerations for Changing the NICU Culture", considers all aspects of the NICU experience and provides recommendations for interventions and improvements from a life-course perspective while families are in the NICU. In part two, the focus is the transition home post-NICU stay. The time after NICU discharge is a critical and sensitive developmental period for NICU babies and their families, and an important life course transition. This paper provides a parent's perspective of how to improve the transition home post-NICU stay. Our perspectives draw on the Life Course Health Development approach, which regards health as an active process that is developed over time based on a person's internal biologic and physiologic systems, their external environment and circumstances, and the interactions or relationships between them. This paper describes a collaborative care model where parents and their healthcare teams work together to develop shared care plans. It also describes how we can build trust and family capacity to support long-term care, ensure family well-being, and link families to needed resources and support that can ease the transition from the NICU back to the home and optimize family health trajectories.
Keywords: collaborative care models; family centered care; life course; neonatal intensive care unit; parent perspectives; pediatric transitions; preterm birth.