Abstract:

Objective: The recent studies have revealed that postpartum parental education, and surveillance has a great importance for the optimum home care of late premature infants during their transition period. The aim of this research was ensure the optimum health care and sustainability of home care of late preterms during transition by delivering necessary health education to mothers; hence, to prevent potential problems which may rise in relation with inappropriate home care; to minimize the rehospitalization rate of infants during the first three months of their lives which might otherwise seen more frequently by monitoring general health state of the infants. Method: This prospective, descriptive research carried out as case-control survey was performed using a cross-sectional method and questionnaire forms so as to collect data. Seventy 70 singleton late preterm infants who were born at 34 to 36 gestational weeks at a Training and Research Hospital in İstanbul were included in the survey after obtaining ethics committee approval. The mothers of the newborns included in the experimental study group were given health education about home care of the baby by a newborn nurse researcher experienced in child care during two visits. The education included basic newborn care and the symptoms of the diseases. Both groups were followed up at the postpartum first and third months. Results: Indications for hospitalisation soon after birth were respiratory distress in 66.7%, and hyperbilirubinemia in 33.3 % of the cases in the experimental group. In the control group patients were hospitalized with the indications of respiiratory distress 77.8% , prematurity 5.6% , hyperbilirubinemia 11.1% , and infection 5.6% . In the experimental group diaper dermatitis at the first, and burring/yellow eye discharge at third months were significantly less frequent in the experimental group at and third months p

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