Mothers' information needs related to caring for infants at home following cardiac surgery.

This study was conducted to examine the information needs of mothers whose infants had cardiac surgery. Thirty subjects ranked their perception of the importance and their level of understanding of 33 items in Mothers' Information Needs Instruments (MINI I and II) and completed the Comfort/Readiness Scale shortly before and after discharge. Both times, all mothers rated most items in the MINI as "extremely important" for them to know. Because many mothers' pre-discharge ratings of their understanding of crucial items was low and infant safety was jeopardized, the investigator ensured that additional teaching was received. Probably related to this unplanned intervention, mothers' understanding scores and their caregiving comfort levels were significantly higher post-discharge. The results support the use of standardized teaching and community follow-up for mothers charged with caring for infants who are recuperating from cardiac surgery at home.