ABSTRACT
Neonatal follow-up program (NFP) is becoming the
corner stone of standard, high quality care provided to
newborns at risk of future neuorodevelopmental delay.
Most of the recognized neonatal intensive care units
in the developed countries are adopting NFP as part of
their mandatory care for the best long term outcome
of high risk infants, especially very low birth weight
(VLBW) infants. Unfortunately, in the developing
and in underdeveloped countries, such early detection
and intervention programs are rarely existing, mainly
because of the lack of awareness of and exposure
to such programs in spite of the increasing numbers
of surviving sick newborns due to advancement in
neonatal care in these countries. This is a review
article to explore the Neonatal follow-up programs
looking at historical development, benefits and aims,
and standard requirements for successful program
development that can be adopted in our countries.
In conclusion, proper Neonatal follow-up programs
are needed to improve neonatal outcome. Therefore
all professionals working in the field of neonatal care
Review Article
Neonatal follow-up program: Where do we
stand?
Badr H. Sobaih
Department of pediatrics, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Correspondence to
Dr. Badr Hasan Sobaih.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Consultant Neonatologist,
Neonatal Follow-up Program Director.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pediatrics.
King Saud University,
P O Box 2925,
Riyadh. 11461. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Email: drbsobaih@yahoo.com
in developing countries should cooperate to
such programs for early detection and hence early
intervention for any adverse long term outcome in
high-risk newborn infants
Key words: Neonatal follow-up program (NFP),
high risk infants, long term developmental outcome,
NICU.
