Book excerpt: "Parents often feel ill-prepared to care for their high-risk infant after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The discharge process at the project facility was unscripted, disorganized and lacked centralized documentation of parent education, making continuity of care more difficult. Without a structured discharge process, parents and staff struggled with discharge readiness. Successful discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit was hindered when parent education was delayed until imminent discharge. Best practices for the discharge planning process identified qualitative descriptive studies to gain a better understanding of parent perspectives and perceived ideology of the discharge process. Emerging themes included parents seeking clarity of parent role within NICU, parent empowerment, and a structured discharge process. The purpose of the quality improvement project was to increase parent discharge readiness by creating a standardized family-centered discharge checklist outlining timelines for parents to perform specific infant care. The timeline on the checklist provided opportunities for early parent participation in infant care and provided a structured discharge planning process. Parent's adherence rates of performing infant care were measured against timelines outlined on the family-centered discharge checklist. Overall, early parent participation in infant care improved. Prior to project implementation, most of the discharge teaching was achieved on the day of discharge. It is imperative that best practices for NICU infant discharge continues to benefit the parent's readiness in the home setting and optimize health outcomes for the infant. Key words: neonate, medically complex infant, discharge planning, family teaching, transition in care, parent education " -- Abstract