[prmenrs]

There is now a body of literature addressing the needs of the "Late Pre-term Infant". 34-37 weekers. I feel 'validated'! LOL.

[Elvish]

Originally Posted by prmenrs

There is now a body of literature addressing the needs of the "Late Pre-term Infant". 34-37 weekers. I feel 'validated'! LOL.

And boy, do those needs not get addressed nearly enough.

This is just my opinion, but I really think 34-37 weekers need a few hours to prove themselves in NICU or intermediate before coming to wellbaby. Our goal is to get them out to be with mom....for what? So they can forget to breathe while mom & dad are sleeping?

We've recently had a spell of 34-weekers getting sent to WELLBABY. Can't wait for that to bite us in the backside.

[elizabells]

Originally Posted by Arwen_U

We've recently had a spell of 34-weekers getting sent to WELLBABY. Can't wait for that to bite us in the backside.

Uch, we do that too, as long as they make weight. I mean, come on, the kid came out early for a REASON, let's figure out what that is before we send them off to either a) mom's room, where they may get checked on once every few hours or b) WBN, where you've got one nurse for twenty babies, and they aren't even on monitors. Great plan.

NB: Not knocking WBN nurses AT ALL, that's just a lot of kids to keep track of. I could never do it; I'd go mad. I like my 1-3 patients, thanks very much.

[Elvish]

Oh, I completely agree with you, elizabells. No offense taken at all!

Last night at the end of my shift, I (along with two other nurses) had 31 babies to keep track of, ON TOP OF two withdrawing methadone kids (one consistently scoring 16-22), a 35-wk feeder-grower, a bilibed kid, and a kid whose mom is in ICU after almost bleeding to death during her c/s (undxed HELLP). If they'd tried to send a 34-weeker in on top of all that, I would have been, um, less than thrilled.

I know NICU can get very hairy, but when I do go over there, I'm always amazed at the lack of chaos that seems to reign in my corner of the woods.

[RainDreamer]

Right after I graduated I started working in a well-baby nursery ..... we didn't do couplet care, so no moms, just babies. Normally we'd have 6-8 babies. I'd get frustrated when I'd call NICU for a grunting baby or a baby with constant hypoglycemia ..... and they'd treat us like incompetent idiots! I wasn't totally stupid and incapable of watching a baby through transition, but please take into consideration that I have all these other babies that need my attention too, so I don't have time to focus on a baby that needs closer monitoring.

Needless to say, I ended up leaving that place. The place I'm at now, I think we do a pretty good job at bringing babies up to the unit that need closer monitoring. When I go over to look at a baby for them, I just feel more comfortable bringing the kid up to the unit ..... a lot of times they just need a bit more time transitioning, but I feel safer in having them on a monitor and on the unit where we can watch them closer.

Well-baby nursery is incredibly chaotic, I totally agree Arwen! Of course I still have some nights in the NICU where it's crazy and the unit is a busy place. But I NEVER in my life ran my butt off more than when I worked in well-baby. A few weeks ago I had to float to couplet care ..... I got a 20 minute lunch break for that entire shift ..... reminded me of those old days, whew!