Editors note: “First Days Home: Keeping Your Baby Healthy and Happy” was recently revised and re-released. Although the following interview was done a number of years ago, we find the experiences of this educator relevant and of interest to anyone examining ways to enhance discharge planning for new mothers.

Dee Campbell is an educator at The Family Birth Center at Danbury Hospital. We talked about Danbury's use of the Miner-Fenwick video, “First Days Home: Keeping Your Baby Healthy and Happy.” They have approximately 2,400 births per year and include this video as part of their postpartum discharge package.

Q: When did you start your First Days Home giveaway program?

A: We started a couple of years ago.

Q: When do you give this video to your patients?

A: We give it to every new mother upon admission in the postpartum area during her hospital stay. When we set up the room, we give them an educational packet to take home. It has written handouts and the First Days Home video.

Q: Are they familiar with it?

A: Some parents may have seen it because we also show it at our prenatal classes. But not everyone attends those.

Q: How do you know if they look at the video?

We felt we needed a way to provide information whether patients can read or not, and whether they can speak English or Spanish.

A: I run a postpartum support group and the mothers say that they find it very helpful. This is especially true for first time mothers.

Q: Do all your patients have access to a VCR to watch the video?

A: Although we're a community hospital with a full range of families economically, no one has said that they didn't want the video because they couldn't view it. It seems to be rare that a family doesn't have one or at least have access to one.

Q: What are some of the ways that giveaway videos have helped your patients?

A: We look at this video as reinforcement of what we've taught. Often, after they go home, parents feel that a certain question is too silly to call us up about. They can go back and look at the video for a specific topic.

Q: Is literacy a factor in using First Days Home?

A: We felt we needed a way to provide information whether patients can read or not, and whether they can speak English or Spanish. Sometimes even when people read, they can't visualize the written word. (Note: there is a Spanish version of First Days Home.)

Q: How does First Days Home help you as an educator?

A: As a giveaway, I'm not using First Days Home as an active teaching tool. But I know I'm giving them something they can refer to even if it's the middle of the night. But we also use it in our prenatal classes. They truly get a better idea of what to expect after the baby comes having seen the video. From our perspective, we like this video because it closely parallels what we do. We looked at a number of others and they didn't.

Q: Do you think that this giveaway program raises community awareness of the hospital?

A: We don't look at it as a marketing tool, but we do get that benefit. We have our name at the beginning of the video and on the sleeve. It's a good public relations tool. Patients do share the video with other relatives after they've used it. They tell them that they've found it useful.

Q: Is there a connection between your use of give-away videos and the trend of shorter hospital maternity stays?

A: Since hospital stays are so short, we do have a responsibility to provide information for when patients go home. When you provide good follow-up resources, that continues to help your patients.

Q: How do shorter hospital stays affect new parents?

A: Right after having a baby is not a prime learning time. Parents are overwhelmed and exhausted. We cover so much and it's too much to absorb. We know that they won't be able to remember everything we're telling them. This helps with the sense of being over-whelmed and it's is an easy reference to use at home.

Q: Did you consider making your own video?

A: Actually, we not only considered it, we did it before. We found that we're not filmmakers. It takes a lot of time and energy to make a good video. It's a very involved process. It can get very boring to just have a person talking on camera. No one will stay tuned in to it very long, so it takes more to get something watchable.

Q: Was hiring a local production company an option?

A: At one point, we did check into getting a production crew. Someone priced it out. We felt in the long run that the production cost plus making copies wasn't worth doing it ourselves. And we knew we'd have to update it. Milner-Fenwick has the responsibility to update First Days Home, so this is taken care of by them.

Q: What was the process to get the video approved and funded?

A: The hospital gets a certain amount of money per patient and educational materials are factored into our budget as part of patient care. It's approved through the department chairs and administration. They support the idea that patient education is important.

Q: Is accreditation by the Joint Commission an issue?

A: Patient education is a very important factor for accreditation. We did receive accreditation with commendation which is the highest rating from the JCAHO.

Q: New parents could probably go to a public library and find a newborn care video. Why would you go to the trouble of providing one for them?

A: Primarily, we see it as our responsibility to educate our patients. Most people just out of the hospital can't run out to the library. They may feel isolated. And I don't know if people would think of using the public library for this purpose.