Does your hospital require someone to check the car seat for newborn???

When I volunteered at a hospital, I SEVERAL times had to instruct parents on how to adjust the straps, hook the seat in, etc. I don't know if it was in my scope of "volunteer". I didn't ask. I was ALWAYS a stickler when it came to my own kids seats and would double check my dh and mil's work. They NEVER seemed to be able to do it right. I am an expert by experience. I may not be certified by some authority or hospital, but I did what I felt was right. I don't feel bad, I don't feel like I did anything wrong by helping them get the straps adjusted tightly or telling them what the locking clip is for and how to properly use it. If they didn't have one, I stressed that they need to get one immediately and to get it from babies r us.

It must be really hard for you to hold back. I don't think I could handle that. Why don't you go to your supervisor and ask them if you were to become certified in child seat installation, could you then give direction and assistance. Good luck to you and thanks for looking out for the little ones and the uninformed.

I agree, it's great that you have seen a need. I would put it in writing to your manager - it makes it hard for them to disagree, in case something untoward happened later and you had warned them in writing it was a risk. I wouldn't be pushy, but just say that you have found an educational opportunity, and would be happy to investigate getting trained in this to maximize the safety of your patients.

At our local hospital where we did clinicals we always got to push the new mother to the car. We were not allowed to say anything about the car seat. The parent did have to bring the carrier section of the seat up to the floor so that the nurse could see that they had a appropriate car seat for a newborn. One of the parents put the baby in the seat then the mother was pushed down stairs carring the seat with the baby restrained. We were not allowed to hook the carrrier into the car section or tell them if it was hooked in wrong. We just had to make sure that it was hooked in period. It was said that somewhere there was a large law suit becouse a nurse had put the car seat in and for some reason it failed during an accident on the way home and the baby was killed. It is supposidly that the hospital is only responsibe for the infant until it is in the parents car so if they wreck on the way home and they were responible for the car seat and car than they cant sue the hospital.

Why aren't you allowed to say anything? Are you allowed to offer to help with the corificeat?

At the last place I worked, new parents had to show the corificeat in order to take Baby home...they had to prove they had a seat.

At my current facility this is not required. When I asked my ER manager about it, I was told that hospitals are not required to see the seat or see that Baby is properly secured, only that information on the child safety seat law and seat procurement is made available to parents.

The hospital I used to work at requires that a Child Passenger Safety Technician check the car seat and educate parents on proper fit and installation. It takes about 30 minutes and the CPSTs are volunteers from the community (mostly firefighters and police officers). Most parents are appreciative and welcome the help...some get really angry or tell us that they can't let their newborn ride backward becasue they will choke or get car sick or something like that. I can't imagine just letting someone drive away with a baby that you know is improperly restrained...you wouldn't let someone leave without being educated on how to take their medicine..why is educating about corificeats any different?

When I had my daughter a year ago, during pre admission, the hospital stated that we had to have a car seat/pmpkin seat to take the baby home. When it came time to leave, the nurse stressed the point that she could not put the baby in the seat and that we had make sure it was secure in the car. She stated this was because of liability reasons. THe hospital was only responsible for the safety of the baby while "in" the hospital.

It's funny you asked this question, I just had finished my first day on postpartum and we had to walk a few moms down to be picked up. Before we even got onto to the floor that morning our instructor made it very clear that we are NOT to EVER help the mother/family place the newborn into the corificeat. We can however, EXPLAIN how to place them in if they seem to be having trouble. Our instructor told us that it comes down to the fact that if WE put them into the seat wrong and godforbid something happens to the baby...the fault is on the hospital.

When I had my dd, we just had to show we had a corificeat. Thats it. We had a bucket infant seat, so we carried her out of the hospital in it. The nurse wheeled me to the car and did not check anything else. One hospital where I used to do clinicals, gave the family a corificeat to take the baby home in, but did not offer assistance in installing it. That hospitals OB unit is now closed.

Uggh, that's common here, too. None of the hospitals can help with seats- and of course only a specialist should, but I'd love to see more access to CPSTs. Encourage OB and Peds staff to take the course, volunteers, too. The largest hospital in the area (800 beds with trauma center) has checks with CPSTs about 4 times a year- not nearly enough to make an impact.

My other peeve by the way is peds healthcare professionals who know nothing about corificeats and safety but give advice anyway. That includes requiring an infant carrier seat in cases when a convertible would be just as safe for a newborn.

The most common I hear from parents is at the 1 yr check-up "congrats, your child is over 1 year and 20 lbs, you can turn her forward now" or worse "you should turn her forward" I dare them to challange me on that! Taking a CPST course would be ideal but at least read the AAP guidelines, right?

Our CPSTs explain how to use the car seat properly, then they demonstrate how to do it, and ask the parent's to duplicate proper fitting and installation. We encourage parents-to-be to have their seat checked before the baby is born...if they do, they get a car seat for $25 instead of the usual $35 or $50 or whatever. They sell convertibles and boosters at 1/2 price too if parents go through the 30 minutes of training.

I let my CPST expire...it got frustrating how many parents would be openly rude to us about not thinking the seats should be so tight in the car, not wanting infants rear facing, not wanting a navy blue seat for a girl (we bought them in bulk), wanting a free seat (we used to give them away for free, but our grant expired), babysitters and day cares wanting seats at the discount price, etc. A lot of our current volunteers are letting their CPST lapse too...time for the nurses to step up and go through the course.