Post-hospitalization Nursing Effectiveness (PHONE) Study

Based on success with telephone follow up for other groups of medically fragile infants, we designed an innovative model of post-hospital comprehensive and coordinated follow-up for infants with chronic lung disease. In this model, which we refer to as community-based follow-up, medical management was coordinated by a nurse specialist, through frequent telephone contacts with the infants' primary caregiver. This model of follow up care was compared, in a randomized trial, with the more traditional model - multidisciplinary medical center-based care. We hypothesized that community-based care would lead to health and developmental outcomes similar to those observed with center-based care.