Babysitting as a Dx

Trauma Columnist · Dec 21, 2006

WHat a crock! I'm a USN vet as well as Air Force wife and this is ludicrous! What a waste of resources.

navynurse06 · Dec 21, 2006

Trauma,

That's my feelings on it too! B/C in the end someone is paying for it! (taxpayers!)

ENS PM

Jolie, BSN · Dec 22, 2006

Along with the obvious waste of resources, why place this child at risk for the potential negative effects of hospitalization, such as nosocomial infection, or abduction (since it doesn't sound like there was a family member consistently present at the bedside)?

navynurse06 · Dec 22, 2006

I agree with you on the infection aspect of your post....esp since its RSV season!

However, the adbuction wouldn't be an issue. We have several pt whose parent's aren't present during their stay. Also, we can see everyone who enters and leaves our unit b/c our door is right in front of the desk; someone is always at the desk.

ENS PM

LydiaNN · Dec 22, 2006

Ok so can you all believe this one.....to explain a little bit on how this can even happen I'm a navy nurse....so basicly the healthcare is free for the service member and family.
Ok any way....back to my story....the other wk our doctors admitted a pt to our floor with the admitting dx of Babysitting....
The mother of this pt was admitted to our tele floor, so instead of sending the kid home with the grandmother or the dad...the powers that be admitted the kid (with no medical problems) to our floor.
Thank goodness I wasn't there that day b/c I would have hit the roof.
Just b/c we don't have to pay for our health care as service members doesn't mean that we could abuse the system, and waste vaulable nursing skills on babysitting. Maybe I would be a bit more understanding if the mother had nobody else to take care of the child (ie if the dad was deployed), but that wasn't the case. There were 2 other caregivers besides the mother!
Maybe I'm just being harsh and have a cold heart...what do you all think?

Was this at Naval Medical Center? I'd love to know which doc it was, because at my work, we've had several calls from desperate Navy wives who had no one to care for their kids when they had to be hospitalized. (We usually refer them to Birth and Beyond or Operation Homefront).

navynurse06 · Dec 22, 2006

Well I'm not going to name names or places...but you can figure out what hosptial it is from where I'm stationed. I'm not sure whom the doctor or nod was when this happened...

P_RN, ADN, RN · Dec 22, 2006

Though I'm not familiar with military admission office policy, it sounds like someone who posted the bed was a little tiffed off too.

Hopefully there is a better explanation, if so will you let us know?

navynurse06 · Dec 22, 2006

No there isn't any other explanation for it...the admission dx was for babysitting....that's what is said on the orders...so that's what the admission office got!

While I was working the other day, after this happened...the nod called us to see if had any open beds for yet another babysitting (mother was on L/d deck and father was there too)...but our charge nurse said "no". We were very busy that day, so that one didn't go through.

I'm just amazed that they try to use our in pt peds floor as a day care.

We also will have chroniclly ill pt that parents will bring them in so they can have a long weekend. They parent's will be there for the admission then won't come back until d/c.

PM

climberrn · Dec 31, 2006

I was there as a traveler in the PICU/NICU...I'd love to know which doc did that! What an absurd/stupid/asinine situation. I can't believe someone approved that!

navynurse06 · Jan 1, 2007

I wasn't working that night so I'm not sure who the dr was, but the NOD also had to approve it! I don't know who the NOD was that night either! But its just a good example of the abuse of free healthcare.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jan 1, 2007

would there be any question of abuse?