NETcoaching is a highly effective web-based tube weaning method for tube dependent children.
It has evolved as an opportunity for guidance from the clinical experience of nearly 20 years of in- and outpatient tube weaning and started in summer 2009 on a larger scale designed to support, instruct and supervise parents and involved professionals through the short and intensive phase of 2-6 weeks of tube weaning.
It offers foreign parents the possibility to wean their child off its feeding tube right at home in its familiar surroundings and relieves them financially of the costs involved in coming to Austria.

Unlike the in- or outpatient program, which is run by our interdisciplinary team at the University Children's Hospital Graz, the netcoaching program is run by Univ.Prof.Dr.med. Marguerite Dunitz-Scheer, deputy head of the psychosomatic division at the University Children's Hospital Graz, and her team on a private basis.

How it works
At most times we can start working immediately and there is no waiting list.
All you need to do is to register, pay the necessary treatment fees, fill out a medical questionnaire and start the treatment by creating a support ticket in your personal area. As soon as possible we will answer all your questions and guide you through the whole therapy period.
You will need to fill out an intake protocol every single day during the critical weaning phase and a medical check up questionnaire once a week in order to give us all the necessary details on your child's current situation.
The timing of this project should be planned as early as possible and should be performed in a stable nutritional phase and only when there is clearly no medical reason to continue tube feeding.
Please note that netcoaching is done on a private basis by physicians and psychologists working at the University Children's Hospital Graz. Thus it may take up to maximal 48 hours until your support ticket is answered. However, our physicians try to come online as often as possible, at least once a day, to help you and your child through this difficult phase.

Requirements
Every child who enters the netcoaching program HAS to be under local peadiatric observation!
Please inform the attending physician about your participation in our tube weaning program. She or he may take a look at the information provided on our professionals website.
If she or he strongly advises you not to participate and is NOT willing to see your child in case of any health concerns during the 2-6 weeks of the weaning process, then we do not recommend this method of netcoached tube weaning but strongly advise you to pass on the reasons of non-approval to us and ask her or him to directly contact us via support@notube.at.

What we can not do
We wish to state that we can not heal any underlying medical conditions by the method of Netcoaching.
Additionally, Netcoaching can not substitute necessery or routine medical examinations and the longterm surveillance of a child's growth and thriving.
Any child not following the expected course of gradual weight gain within 2-4 months after tube weaning, will need intensive re-evaluation by their local doctors, involved medical institution or by our clinical centre in Austria.

Contraindications
Netcoaching can not be recommended for children with dysphagia and unsafe swallow function or for children whose underlying medical condition will need permanent laboratory supervision during the weaning process (like Hyperinsulinism, Metabolic Disorders, Glycogen Storage Diseases ect). Unless specifically defined, this method is also not designed to coach parents on a long term basis after the tube weaning of their child!
The treatment is completed 1 month after successfully weaning the child off its feeding tube, for further support please contact us via support@notube.at.

Costs
For further information on the costs involved please visit COSTS.