Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Early Term Infant Care: Hospital Utilization And Breastfeeding Practices, Debra Craighead

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

Early term infants (ETI), with gestational ages from 37 to 38 weeks, have higher morbidity and mortality rates when compared with later term infant counterparts born at 39 to 41 weeks. Although this newly identified term infant subcategory is gaining attention, the immediate and long term health outcomes and care needs of ETI remain largely unexplored. The purpose of this research project was to examine the current research documenting ETI health and explore care practices that are currently utilized to promote ETI health. The original research study describes care practices used to promote health for ETIs born in Louisiana in …