Nursing challenges in the care of very low birth weight infants (< 1,000 grams).

It is not unusual for neonates to be born before the 24th week of gestation and weigh less than 1,000 g. These neonates are surviving to be transferred to a tertiary care center, and many are discharged eventually to home. When one considers that these infants are only "half developed" by the standard 40-week gestational period, it is understandable that the challenges for nurses caring for them are enormous. In this article, the authors review gestational development and the critical care needs of this special neonatal population.