Breast milk Identification

[JGriffin]

Hi all,

I'm hearing that JACHO is citing large centers for not having a formal breast milk identification system. Is anyone else using the barcode system? It is very expensive and IT has to let the system talk to your system. If not, what other systems are unit's using?

[babiesRmylife]

In my old hospital we had medication scanning & so we used a barcoding system & scanned our breastmilk just like a medication. It was AMAZING!!!! Super easy.

All we had to do was scan the infants bedside barcode then scan the breastmilk bottle. Then scan the infants bedside barcode again & whatever you put the breakmilk in that you labeled with their breastmilk label. That way you doubled checked the milk you drew your milk from & then you checked whatever you put your milk into with the label you stuck it on to.

Sounds confusing but its really not & it definately decreased the incidence of giving the wrong breastmilk.

[jrj1979]

We just do a 2 RN check on all breastmilk before feeding.

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

We also do two Rn check and document on the flowsheet, I haven't heard that yet.

[time4nicu]

We do the barcode scanning and must diligently chart in a very specific way. Our boss sits at her computer everyday monitoring who scanned the milk and charted correctly and who didnt. If our times do not match up (from the time we scanned and the time we chart we fed) we must go to the computer center and back chart. Major pain in the buttocks. I realize it is good to be safe, but I liked our old system of two nurse check better. Way less time consuming.

[caregiver1977]

As of a year ago, at my hospital (in central Mississippi) used labels that they stuck on the bottles. It had the mother's and the infant's information on it (like the infant's birth date, sex, etc.)

[JGriffin]

I like the idea of using the current MAC system... now to get pharmacy involved.

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

We do a 2 RN check and cosign it off in the computer.

[menemsha]

Not at all familiar with bar codes for checking drugs or breast milk, so bear with me.

How many scanners would you need in a NICU??????

I would imagine quite a few depending on size of unit & room lay out, otherwise you would have to be continually finding the scanner.

We have a 24 bed NICU & 20 bed SCN.

[time4nicu]

We have 9 computers (scanners connected) on wheels that we use for a 32 bed unit. Our census is usually about 18 to 20. Every three hours you must scan the milk as you would a medication. You must write an order and send to pharmacy to get the stickers in the first place. The system sucks, we hate it.... takes forever. You can still make mistakes by putting the wrong sticker on the bottle, or by handing the parents the wrong labels. This has happened before, but the mistake was caught before any stickers were placed on the bottle itself.

Oh, has anyone started the pulse ox test before discharge yet? The test is done by placing two pulse ox probes (one on the right foot and one on the right wrist) both at the same time and leaving them on for five minutes comparing the two sats for differences. It seems everyday there is another test to be done before discharge.