Pts paying for night nursery care??

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

It has been said that our hospital will start offering our moms night nursery care for their babies but they will have to PAY EXTRA!!?? Does anyone else find this extremely insulting? If I was told this when I was exausted at 2am when I wanted a break, I would be very ticked off.... anyone have an opinion on this?

Specializes in med/surg; floatpool, mom/baby, nursery.

This is for overnight nursery care and is payable upfront, not billed to insurance. They are just trying to make a buck and they said so. I don't see how they can get by with this since the nursery will be staffed anyway. I am stuck in the dilemma of what am I going to tell medicaid; uninsured parents who cannot afford to pay upfront? Sorry guys, you're not part of the "pampered package"

Specializes in med/surg; floatpool, mom/baby, nursery.
They're probably trying to do away with the nursery for mother-baby initiative. Some hospitals are doing away with nurseries altogether.

And they _should_--a newborn baby should be within arm's reach of their mother or their father or at least somebody for the first couple of days. In a nursery, there's no guarantee an infant will be soothed. That baby has known nothing but the warm, comfortable embrace of his mother's body and her sounds and scents, and now he's out in the world where he's hungry, where it's not always the perfect temperature, where no one is holding him--can you imagine!

Rooming-in helps a mother learn her babies cues, helps breastfeeding (if she's chosen to do so), helps bonding, helps that infant feel secure. Why are you upset at this and not happy they're trying to facilitate it?

Actually, we don't have a nursery now so it is mandatory that everyone keeps their baby. I am all for it actually. However, I do not want to be stuck in the position where I have to tell people who are unable to afford this "upgrade" that the nursery will not accept their baby because they have not paid the fee. That is what I am upset with.

Specializes in Dialysis.

What are you doing now with the bili-babies? post-circumcision observation? Hypothermia babies? Is all that stuff really in all the patients rooms? What happens when a baby is up for adoption? I don't understand how a L&D/couplet floor can NOT have a nursery. Please explain.

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Currently, double lights or less, post-circ checks, and isolette care (assuming baby isn't in NICU) can be done in mom's room in my neck of the woods. I think a nursery should be available in the case of a BUFA or a kid that decides to crump, but we do most everything in Mom's room.

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