Drop-side cribs outlawed

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Specializes in NICU.

"The government outlawed drop-side cribs on Wednesday after the deaths of more than 30 infants and toddlers in the past decade and millions of recalls.

It was a unanimous vote by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban the manufacture, sale and resale of the cribs, which have a side rail that moves up and down, allowing parents to more easily lift their child from the crib.

The new standard requiring cribs to have fixed sides would take effect in June. The move by CPSC would also prohibit hotels and childcare centers from using drop-sides, though those facilities would have a year to purchase new cribs."

Crib safety: Government passes tough rules - latimes.com

Am I right in assuming that this is going to include hospitals in those "childcare centers"?

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Specializes in NICU.

OP, do you have a news article link? I googled the drop-side cribs and found this one from the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cribs-20101216,0,210525.story

I was very surprised that the article is suggesting ALL drop-side cribs will be banned. I hope this doesn't apply to NICUs because all of our cribs are drop-side and I can't imagine a better alternative. I don't even see how it will be feasible to take care of our patients efficiently if we didn't have drop-side cribs. Any NICUs that don't use drop-side cribs out there?

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Specializes in NICU.

Whoops, sorry; yes, that's the one, from the LATimes.

I don't think it's not feasible, but I do think it would be incredibly inconvenient, not to mention making it even more difficult to, say, lift a baby with lines/nasal cannula/feeding tube extension out of a crib so parents can hold.

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Specializes in NICU.

Not to mention resuscitate a baby who crumps while in a crib...

I think it is truly not feasible to care for a critically ill child with the sides up on a crib. I can deal with sides up on a radiant warmer, which can be inconvenient at times. But not a big crib with tall sides...

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

Am I right in assuming that this is going to include hospitals in those "childcare centers"?

The hospital where I work has improved this situation but it used to be that our nurse to patient ratios (for feeder/growers) were higher than the state allowed ratio of infants to caregivers in daycare facilities.

They were not regulated by the same standards/laws. I doubt this new law would ever apply to neonates in an NICU setting but would be interested to know if it would cover pediatric type patients in a non-monitored type environment.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

My guess is that our cribs will be deemed hospital grade and be exempt. Personally, I never lowered the rail on my own kids' cribs, it was a pain to use.

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Specializes in NICU.

I don't think this would include hospital grade cribs for the sheer fact that in a code, you must be able to drop the sides to have access to the infant. I think this is for those infants who are unattended at home during nap time and at night.

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Specializes in Public Health.

I'm trying to figure out exactly how these fatalities occur, and how fixed side-rails would prevent them? I guess I'm looking at it from the neonatal perspective, in that the babies can't lower the sides themselves.

If I'm not at the babies bedside, the side-rails are up and locked. Maybe there should be a distinction between infant and toddler cribs?

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