[Role of pediatric medical home care].

According to the decree of 1992, the Paris hospitals (AP-HP) pediatric medical home care network offers care for all children irrespective of their pathology within the framework of a medico-psycho-social therapeutic project provided as an in alternative to traditional hospitalization. 30% of the admissions occur during the neonatal period. We studied the files of 249 newborn or preterm infants given in medical home care between January and September 2003. 71% were preterm infants. 46.4% of the children had been admitted at least once in an intensive care unit. At their admission in the pediatric medical home care unit, the median corrected gestational age was 39 weeks 6 days; 43% weighed less than 2500g, 9% less than 2000g, 22.5% of the preterm infants had a corrected gestational age less than 37 weeks, 65% of the infants presented gastrointestinal and/or feeding disorders. The average duration of stay in the pediatric medical home care unit was 20.5 days. The competence of pediatric nurses working in an integrated multidisciplinary team including psychologists and social workers is the key to success of pediatric medical home care.