Neonatal intensive care in the home.

As the trend toward early discharge and home care of medically fragile neonates continues, parents find themselves thrust into a lifestyle for which they are unprepared. They must quickly adjust to a new daily routine and new home environment. They watch as part of their home is transformed into a mini intensive care unit with the kind of high-tech equipment and supplies once exclusively reserved for hospital settings. Parents also must learn to live with limited privacy because home care nurses and other providers become a visible presence and a daily reminder that their lives have been forever altered.