Do most postpartum nurses consider the newborn hearing screen a nuisance?

klone, MSN, RN · May 20, 2015

Is the ABR with the electrodes or is that the other one (EIA?)?

From my own experiences, I know when a nurse goes into the room to do something with or for the baby, she probably feels inconvenienced that she cannot complete her task at that time because the baby's hearing test is happening. That's probably the root of the animosity you're feeling. It's nothing against the test, we understand it's necessary. It's the fact that when a nurse goes into the room and sees you there, it means she has to come back another time, and when she's pressed for time and has a million things to do, it's frustrating.

I personally look at it a little differently from most of the nurses I work with - when I started in OB, the first hospital I worked at the nurses did the hearing tests, and we had a crappy machine that never worked right. So when I moved to a hospital where they had a person who went around and did that, I was always quite grateful. One less task I had to do!

**LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM** · May 20, 2015

When I was a postpartum nurse I hated doing the hearing tests with a passion, because as klone stated above, I felt like our machine was always on the fritz. I also just hated the fact that the hospital employed an audiologist to come in every weekday morning, review the census to see who needed tests and who had failed, but who didn't actually DO the tests. She was the one who trained us how to use the machine, but basically did no work other than to tell us "so and so still needs their hearing test!", and incidentally was just an incredibly obnoxious human being. I also disliked the responsibility of having to reassure parents that their child wasn't deaf if they hadn't passed the test, and that they just needed a follow up test at a later date. Some parents really freaked out about it. The insanely high volume on that unit, combine with those added stressors, made the hearing test a hugely annoying part of my workflow. If we had had a designated hearing tester, I would have kissed their feet!

xxdiscoxxheaven · May 20, 2015

I did my final clinical in postpartum. NHS never bothered any of the nurses that I could tell. Just like any of the pictures, metabolic screens, ultrasounds, bs, etc. We'd just come back later

BSNbeauty, BSN, RN · May 22, 2015

I wish we had a screening tech !!! The nurses and techs do the screens in the NBN and it is a nuisance!!!! Our equipment is crap and the screens can take forever. Don't worry , we reported our concerns to management but we were told to basically suck it up. If the OP did our hearing screens there would be no animosity!!

Calinurse4 · May 23, 2015

We have a hearing screener and I'm so grateful :)

123kids4me · May 24, 2015

I consider it a nuisance but only because we do them ourselves, so it's just one more thing to add to an already full to do list. And we're now being encouraged to do them all at the bedside in mom's room, so we have to sit there while we wait for it to finish. If we had someone like you to come do them, I would love it!!

iPink, BSN, RN · May 24, 2015

No, because we have hearing screen techs that do them...one less task we don't do.