Early Postnatal Discharge in a French Perinatal Network

In March 2014, the French Health Authorities edited new guidelines about early discharge after delivery. Early discharge is defined as a discharge during the 72 hours following vaginal delivery of low-risk mothers and their healthy newborn. These guidelines defined the conditions of eligibility for early discharge for mothers and babies, and the different criteria of their follow-up at home by midwives .

The average length of stay following normal delivery is higher in France than in other European countries: eg : 4.3 days in France vs 2.2 days in Sweden (OECD indicators 2011) On the other hand, according to an investigation conducted by a patients association, 38% women declared that they felt that their hospitalization was too long after their baby's birth, but their request for a shorter stay had not been taken into account by hospital caregivers. The investigators hypothesis is that the rate of early discharge could be increased by a multi-pronged program coordinated in a perinatal network, and could improve quality of postpartum care, and women's satisfaction.

The "Réseau Périnatal Alpes Isère" is a perinatal network located in French Alps region. Its purpose is to coordinate 5 maternity services an organization of midwives providing pre and postnatal home care, for about 10000 births annually. In 2010, according to the hospital database provided by the Medical Information Systems Program, early discharge concerned only 4.1% of mothers between 0 and 48 hours after delivery . At the same time, 65% of women could be considered as at low risk, considering they gave birth to a healthy singleton, born after 38 weeks of gestation by vaginal delivery. This rate is not precise, in view of the lack of availability of documented rate of non-eligibility for early discharge such as non- eutrophic babies, or adverse events during postpartum and the neonatal period.