Returning the baby to community setting care from the hospital as secure, smooth, and on-schedule as possible for premature babies is the goal of our discharge plan. Deliberate preparation prior to the discharge of preterm birth babies can reduce the uncertainty and anxiety of family members, and improve the appropriateness of discharge.

Often times, after the physician recommends that a preterm baby can return home for normal parental care, family members begin to feel more worrisome than joy. They fear that when they take their child home, the baby may face many problems such as inadequate oxygenation, apnea, bradycardia, feeding difficulties, and oxygen dependence. These worries cause caregivers overwhelming psychological pressure, making them reluctant to take the child home as recommended. Therefore, in order to boost the confidence of the parents to take care of the baby before actually returning home, we established the Premature Baby Interim Ward, under the sponsorship of Premature Baby Foundation and the great support of Chi Mei Medical Center since 2009, to allow the family members to learn premature baby caretaking skills with the help and assurance of hospital healthcare personnel.

Premature Baby Interim Ward is currently established in the 5th floor pediatric ward of Chi Mei Medical Center . Premature babies are admitted to the ward when they fulfill the criteria of body weight near 2,000 grams, stabilized physiological parameters, and after an attending physician has determined that they may be discharged in the near future. During the interim ward stay, the premature baby will continue to be cared by our medical team, including physicians, nurses, social workers, nutritionists, and rehabilitation personnel to help parents understand the current status of their baby, prognosis, treatment plan, and preparation for the required home care. Further, our healthcare team will teach and guide the parents on the necessary caretaking skills, supplemented with education pamphlets, books and videos. As a continuation of nursing knowledge and caring skills, parents will be taught how to measure vital signs, observe color changes, read oxygen saturation monitor, apply basic first aid techniques, provide kangaroo care, pad back to clear phlegm, feeding, bathing, changing diapers, caring for umbilical cord stump and doing rehabilitation exercises. Furthermore, after the baby returns home, nurses will continue to follow-up baby's home care developments.

Chi Mei Medical Center Premature Baby Interim Ward has served numerous families with premature babies since its establishment. According to our premature childcare services satisfaction survey, ratings of satisfied and above reached 100%. More importantly, premature children are discharged on-schedule, without a single unplanned readmission case. On the homecare nurse visits of Chi Mei Medical Center preterm childcare program, family members give many positive feedbacks, saying "the establishment of Premature Baby Interim Ward is very helpful for families of premature children because of the simulation and education of homecare situation prior to discharge, thus enabling the caretaker to be less afraid, and also more confident in taking care of the baby! "