The car seat test

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

I had twins recently, and I've been thinking about how the hospital handled the car seat test. My water broke 4 weeks early, before we had a chance to install the ones we'd bought. My husband doesn't drive, and I had to be transferred to a hospital 250 miles away. When it was time for discharge, I had no car seat to test. The hospital gift shop sold car seats for about $175.

Since we had neither a car seat or a car, and we weren't going home right away (we were in temporary housing nearby), I planned to refuse the car seat test. The hospital refused to release my son without a car seat, and I didn't want to spend $175 for a seat I couldn't use. We had no friends or family in the area with kids, so we couldn't borrow a car seat.

In the end, I was discharged without my son, and Hubby and I went on the Target Run From Hell to find a suitable car seat. This was right after the big Graco Recall, and it was a Saturday night, so it was only by pure luck that we found one. Our son passed his test the next day, and was released that night.

The experience left a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't the lack of a car seat so much as the fact that we were being coerced into buying an expensive one. The seat we bought was about $130. My local hospital gift shop sells them for $55. The only suggestion we got as an alternative was buying a seat for the test, then immediately returning it.

How does your hospital handle the car seat test for families that don't have one?

What's the car seat test? When I had both my boys, they asked if I had a car seat and if it was installed in the vehicle, we said yes and that was that. I was rolled downstairs holding my son while hubby pulled the car around, and hubby and I buckled our baby into the car seat and we left. No medical professional ever set eyes on our seat. Is it for preemies only?

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Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.
What's the car seat test? When I had both my boys, they asked if I had a car seat and if it was installed in the vehicle, we said yes and that was that. I was rolled downstairs holding my son while hubby pulled the car around, and hubby and I buckled our baby into the car seat and we left. No medical professional ever set eyes on our seat. Is it for preemies only?

It's a test for premies in which they place the neonate in the car seat for around 90 minutes and they monitor if the baby will develop apnea, bradycardia, desat. It's to test if it's safe for the baby to go home.

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Specializes in ICU, L&D.

At my urban hospital, which serves primarily the economically disadvantaged, we provide a car seat free of charge to anyone who does not have one.

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Specializes in L and D.

At my last hospital the parents had to have a corificeat and bring it up to the unit in order to be discharged. The discharging nurse would do a car seat inspection and teach the parents the appropriate fit of the corificeat. The baby would discharge already in the corificeat and it had to be documented. No baby left the hospital in anything but a corificeat.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

And what would you do if the parents had a convertible corificeat rather than a bucket?

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

That was my question...I didn't use the detachable baby bucket carrier car seat. I had seen too many that didn't stay put in a car crash....but now my babies are 17 and 18. I know when I had mine...they came out to the car and checked the seat in the car.

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For all four of mine (not preemie) the nurses checked seat placement in my car before I left. When I did my L&D rotation, no infant needing a car seat test was discharged without it.

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Specializes in L and D.

I guess I should have mentioned it was at an Army hospital. If the parents did not use a detachable corificeat, then the whole thing had to come out. The patients were made aware of it at all of their appointments (midwives are such awesome educators :) ) so they knew what to expect. I worked there for 3 years and never had any compliance issues. I was the charge there and conducted the discharge class in which they were also made aware of the requirement. I guess if there had been a problem I would have just taken it to the unit manager.

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Specializes in NICU.

We don't do car seat tests or check installation. Liability.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.
We don't do car seat tests or check installation. Liability.

We don't check installation in the car but I would worry about the liability of not doing a car seat test. It is recommended for all infants by the American Academy of Pediatrics for infants born under 37 weeks, with hypotonia or airway anomalies. I guess they're not the authorities on everything though. . .

Safe Transportation of Preterm and Low Birth Weight Infants at Hospital Discharge

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
We don't do car seat tests or check installation. Liability.

Like Tiffy, I get the liability issues regarding installation. But how would a corificeat challenge have anything to do with liability? It's standard of care for infants under a certain gestational age or weight, prior to discharge.

I would say since it's standard of care, NOT doing a corificeat challenge prior to discharge would open up a facility to far greater litigation.

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Like Tiffy, I get the liability issues regarding installation. But how would a corificeat challenge have anything to do with liability? It's standard of care for infants under a certain gestational age or weight, prior to discharge.

I would say since it's standard of care, NOT doing a corificeat challenge prior to discharge would open up a facility to far greater litigation.

I'd think so too. Unless PP is talking about checking all car seats in discharged mothers' cars as opposed to the car seat challenge test.

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