Couplet care/ discharge nurse/ baby friendly

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Hello,

I currently do post partum and newborn nursery but in an effort to move toward baby friendly they are initiating couplets. Are four couplets manageable? That's eight patients essentially!

I've also seen job posts for a discharge nurse to improve pt satisfaction. Anyone have one nurse designated to dc only? How does that work?

Thanks all.

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At my job we have 3-4 couplets and sometimes five couplets. However, there are some days where we have antepartums are nicu moms mixed in our assignment which means we can have an odd number of patients. I think 4 couplets is manageable if you are great at time management. I usually leave work on time and able to get all of my work done for my 4 or more couplets. If it is really busy and we have a ton of discharges then we will ask for a nurse to come in from 7a-3pm just to help out with discharges. It would be nice if we had a discharge nurse every day as it will help get patients out quicker.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Thanks.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

Where I precepted and will be working once I'm licensed, 4 couplets is the standard, almost regardless of acuity. As long as you manage your time well, you should be fine, but every now and then, everyone on the floor is high acuity, and it's overwhelming and things get missed.

Having moms and babies together is MUCH nicer for the patients, IMO.

We don't have discharge nurses. We try to distribute the discharges evenly and based on patient load. Would a d/c nurse just go home after pts are d/c'd? Never heard of that, but I'm a new grad. :)

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I read on awohnn(?) The women's health organization that a discharge nurse is being encouraged to improve patient satisfaction. A hospital in my area is implementing that and has two positions for a discharge nurse (mother baby). I applied but I see it is a new position for the hospital. Just seeing if anyone else was familiar.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

We routinely do 4 couplets. As with anything there are days when its all hunky dory and days when you can't pee, eat, or sit down all day. What I would love is someone to just go around and make sure all the discharge teaching is done. That is probably the single biggest barrier to getting people out on time.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Elvish-good to know. Thanks

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We typically have 4 couplets. Like pp said, when you mix in antepartums and nicu moms you may have 5 moms and 3 babies which to me is harder bc the moms are the hard ones. 3 couplets is super awesome and perfect. 4 can be really hard if you have a patient on triple antibiotics and a newborn that needs a car seat test ot

on antibiotics or lots going on. 4 lady partsl deliveries is typically a piece of cake but throw in several sections and all that, it can feel like you are drowning at times. I will say I always leave by 0730 and am very good at my time management so that makes all the difference!

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My hospital currently has a discharge nurse. She does a lot of the discharge teaching, discharge paperwork and discharges. She is incharge of discharging all couples, even if there is 10-15 discharges that day. On slow days she goes and tries to do as many discharge paperworks as she can. She also tries to help with car seat challenges, vaccine conests and things like that when she has some time. He job is mon-fri, 9-5. The minimum amount of couples I have had is 4 and it is managable. I have had up to 8 couples at a time! After 1:6, all hell breaks loose. The staffing department in my hospital refuses to acknowledge our babies as patients and that's why we have such heavy assignments. Even with 1:6, I am able to leave by 7:30.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

The rare times we do couplet care, we take on 4-5 couplets. Occasionally, day shift has a discharge nurse and some days the charge nurse is the discharge nurse. They do all the discharge paperwork for both mom and baby as well as the teaching.

I work for a large women's hospital (12-15k births/year) and was told I would get very busy. My nursing career stared on a very busy stressful acute care floor, and so when I transferred to this unit, I found it easier than what I was exposed to. If we have a lot of discharges, I usually coordinated with the d/c nurse that I'm doing the teachings on my patients. It also helps me learn and I know I've done the charting. I see the benefit of having a d/c nurse when the unit gets busy.

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Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

Most shifts we staff so that we have 3 couplets. Occasionally when we are real busy we will be assigned Four, but 3 is the norm. I am very fortunate to work on a unit and hospital which recognizes AWHONN staffing guidelines.

It is manageable and IMO allows us plenty of time to really work with our patients, and appropriately help with breastfeeding.

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Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

Oh and we have no dedicated discharge RN. We all discharge our own couplets.

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