Childcare and patients

[LydiaNN]

This is actually more of a SW question, and as a matter of fact is an ongoing discussion of a SW group whose meetings I attend as an agency liaison. Kind of interested to know how other hospitals handle this. What do you do when you have a pt that comes in with her children (because of no other alternative) and is admitted for delivery?

[gypsyatheart]

Hot topic, for sure. I work as a civilian in a military hopsital and this is a huge issue! But it is an issue in outside facilities, also. It is actually more of an issue for the military, b/c, truly, they may know not a soul, have no friends/family locally, or any kind of support system in place. It is made very clear that they must have a "family plan" in place, but, geez, my heart goes out to these women so many times. Alone in a strange city, maybe recently transferred here, no family, husband deployed and you're in labor, with your 2yo running around! We (the nurses) do what we can, but you know, we get so busy.... Fortunately, we have some systems in place, however difficult to activate. For private (non military) people, it is much simpler, it is made very clear that an adult must be present while mom is a pt, laboring, etc. There really shouldn't be any reason to have unattended children present (other than the initial timeframe when mom gets there, unexpectedly, perhaps). It does happen, occasionally, but really we can't be responsible for little ones, unattended....