Objective: Frequent parental visits are likely to benefit infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), particularly extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ⩽1000 g) survivors. Parking costs (⩾$10 per visit in our center) may deter visitation, especially for low-income parents. We assessed whether free parking (FP) decreased survivors' length of stay (LOS).
Study design: Parents (N=138) of ELBW infants (7 to 14 days old) were randomized to usual care (UC; n=66) or FP (n=72). The primary outcome was LOS.
Results: Among survivors (n=116), LOS was not significantly less with FP than UC (means: FP=89, UC=102 days, P=0.22; medians: FP=82, UC=84 days, P=0.30). Groups did not differ significantly on proportion of visit days (FP=0.69, UC=0.72, P=0.47), parental involvement, knowledge/skills and satisfaction. Post hoc analyses found that parents with a greater income, a car and fewer children visited more.
Conclusion: More potent interventions than FP are needed to increase parental visits and reduce LOS for ELBW infants in disadvantaged urban populations.