I would be very interested to learn how follow-up and physiotherapy referral are organized in different NICUs after discharge.

Are all preterm infants routinely referred to or enrolled in physiotherapy follow-up programmes, or does your team first perform a developmental assessment and refer only those infants who demonstrate specific risk factors, abnormal findings, or emerging developmental concerns?

If referral is selective, what criteria do you use, who makes the decision, and which developmental assessment tools are part of your follow-up pathway?

I would be grateful to hear what you actually do in your everyday clinical practice.

Short version from Sweden - PT follow up is the rule in our "extended follow up program", practically at 5, 12, 24 months and 5.5y. Infants enrolled there are all infants <28w, and several defined subgroups, e.g. those given hypothermia.

Can give a more extended version later :)

Thank you, @Stefan Johansson — very interesting, and I would certainly appreciate the more extended version when you have time.

Just to clarify one point: when you say that PT follow-up is the rule for infants enrolled in the extended follow-up programme, does this mean that all of these infants are routinely assessed by a physiotherapist at the specified time points, or that they are also routinely enrolled in physiotherapy intervention/treatment?

In other words, is physiotherapy treatment provided to all high-risk infants, or only when the assessment identifies a specific indication or developmental concern?

Here's the follow up program from Stockholm, it is in Swedish but the AI-bots will help you translate well.

I think our program is slightlly more extended than outside Stockholm, but the 2y and 5.5y evaluations are standardised and goes into our national quality register. So, inclusion is based on risk group, like a routine

We typically have a team appointment, with PT and doctor, and make the medical and motor assessment together. It is quite common that the PT gives advice on how to stimulate development and they often book up their own follow ups, inbetween team visits.

uppfoljningsprogram-barn-utskrivna-fran-neonatalvardsavd.pdf