Improvement Ideas

Offer one free evening of babysitting by your staff, during the first year and a gift certificate to a movie or restaurant. People don't really like hospitals but they do need to stay connected to each other to be good parents. This might seem like an expensive endeavor but it would be popular. And it would allow an opportunity to see how people are handling new parenthood.

I think finding a niche is helpful. For instance hospitals that offer midwives and waterbirth will always be busy and popular because they offer something that other places don't.

Some other treats I have seen are manicures, massages, professional photographers who come in and take really fancy newborn pictures, really nice gifts, etc.

As far as the dads, I think nursing is really the one to make or break that. Showing dads how to help mom, educating them, having them give baby's bath, etc. Maybe offering a Dad 101 class or something.

Offer one free evening of babysitting by your staff, during the first year and a gift certificate to a movie or restaurant. People don't really like hospitals but they do need to stay connected to each other to be good parents. This might seem like an expensive endeavor but it would be popular. And it would allow an opportunity to see how people are handling new parenthood.

really? free evening of babysittting by staff? these are nurses, not babysitters!

i'm not trying to be rude, i'm just a prenursing student and i can't believe the amount of "customer service" that's going on here!

I bet the budget is probably tight. Our NICU unit clerk makes a scrapbook for patients, maybe a mini scrapbook of Baby's Birthday? Could even be a special gift from dad to mom to get them involved.Big brothers/sisters could get into it also. One thing I regret from my deliveries is not taking enough pictures. Especially of our new family! Even one framed picture would be nice. A keepsake to always remember.

I've got a list of DOs and DON'Ts from personal experience, fwiw: offer free doula services (and allow outside doulas to come in, not just staff ones, if you even have them). Treat parents with birth plans like they've actually thought things out and they're planning on things going well; don't pooh-pooh them and imply that everything is going to be thrown out the window. Also, don't make them believe their wishes will be followed if policy is to just railroad them. Don't make fun of or dismiss women who come in wanting a drug-free delivery. It most certainly CAN be done and if you're really there to advocate for and support pts, this is the prime time to do it.

Don't tell women to put sugar syrup on their nipples to get the baby to latch.

Tell ALL parents about home health nurses and the free visits they provide. Not having to pack up a days-old baby for a weight check is a huuuuuuge blessing.

For fathers, ITA completely about breastfeeding support. Yes, you honestly can bond with a baby in other ways than feeding it. Teach them to bathe the baby (MrMonkey hadn't even *held* an infant before ours was born) and suggest that be their special Daddy/baby job.

Maybe offer new parents a $20 certificate to a take-out place, so they can get non-hospital food once during their stay. I bet a lot of places would be willing to at least subsidize that for the word of mouth they would get. Positive feelings make excellent business, both for the facility and the vendor.

I'm sure I have more, but if any of those are helpful, steal 'em!

Thank you all for your ideas. These are wonderful and I am definitely going to suggest a few of them! :)

I bet the budget is probably tight. Our NICU unit clerk makes a scrapbook for patients, maybe a mini scrapbook of Baby's Birthday? Could even be a special gift from dad to mom to get them involved.Big brothers/sisters could get into it also. One thing I regret from my deliveries is not taking enough pictures. Especially of our new family! Even one framed picture would be nice. A keepsake to always remember.

YES. This. Having someone who would be willing to catch a few snaps of the dad, especially when he's helping coach and can't be bothered to take a picture. Getting pics of him helping the baby into the world would be so wonderful. I wish MrMonkey had some. Just find someone to take a few candids of him, even if he's just watching or even catching a nap or the look on his face when the baby crowns and is born.

Offer one free evening of babysitting by your staff, during the first year .

How would you handle that, logistically? Would you have staff volunteer to come to their house? Because you couldn't bring an older baby, who has been out in the community and exposed to various crud, into a newborn nursery.

Some things I've seen offered at the various facilities at which I've floated:

Fresh chocolate chip cookies delivered to mom's room

Free massage given to mom

Candlelight dinner for two (baby goes to nursery for 2 hours)

I agree with a previous poster that setting yourself apart from other places by offering free doula services, waterbirth, intrapartum massage therapy, excellent lactation support would be better than the shiny bells and whistles.

Is the baby not good enough anymore? You have to throw in extras to sweeten the deal!?!

A candlelit dinner is still going to be hospital food. One hospital in town gives a gift card to Walmart and a congratulations card from the staff. Another gives an invitation to a hospital-sponsored parenting group. The friends that have had babies at these hospitals appreciate it.

Our L&D suites are huge and have armoires with flat screen televisions and dvd players - dads love this - until they are transferred to the mother/baby side of the unit and we don't have the bells and whistles. We are in the process of purchasing couches that flip into a twin bed - they are very comfortable but very expensive, but the dads that are lucky enough to get the rooms with the couches have really positive feedback, not to mention that they appreciate a comfortable bed instead of a flimsy cot or "dad chair." We also give welcome packets to the new parents - it includes a stainless steel travel coffee mug for dad (with the hospital logo), a lullabye cd, and a Halo sleep sack.

At my previous place of employment, they offered new moms and dads a "celebration dinner." They were able to choose from a variety of entrees, sides, and desserts, and it was delivered on a special table-cloth covered cart with a bouquet of flowers. Yes it was still hospital food, but it happened to be very good, and it made the parents feel special. They also mailed cards to the new family after they were discharged - they were signed by the staff and had sweet little messages in them and also the saying "thank you for choosing _____ hospital."

Is the baby not good enough anymore? You have to throw in extras to sweeten the deal!?!

A baby is not a gift from the hospital-it's the couple's child-they made it, the mother grew it and then gave birth to the baby. We should be honored that they allow us to take part in this wonderful experience. Birth is not an illness-it's more of a celebration so I think it is very much in order to treat it as such.

From my experience, the dinner is a nice idea on paper but the logistics of it don't always work out-the dad is not there (for various reasons) when the dinner is delivered. Almost on a daily basis we had patients requesting "extra" dinners be brought in for family/friends and then would often complain when we couldn't accomodate them. It has also been my experience that hospital nutrition services usually don't have the facility or ability to cook a really nice steak dinner so the food is often not that great. You can order from a restaurant but that gets pricey and someone has to go pick it up...etc.

We gave "snack packs" to the dads for awhile-a bag of all kinds of goodies that we didn't already have in the nutrition area on the floor, ie. candy, crackers, soda, etc. They usually loved it but again there were downsides. The staff was always really excited to give the daddy his gift and we went through about 30-40% more gift packs than we had births because the dads were given their goodie bags before it was determined that mom was in labor and then she'd go home...it doesn't sound like it would be a huge deal but the cost adds up fast.

For awhile we offered one "guest meal" during the stay-similar concept to the dinner but it was a bit more flexible in that they just needed to let us know a few hours before the meal they wanted a tray for-breakfast after a long night of labor was very popular. From what I saw, this was the most successful but because I work in a small hospital it became too much for the kitchen staff to add that many extra trays every day.

The parents are now given two cupcakes from a fancy-smancy bakery in town, they are really, yummy and the parents seem to like it-it comes in a gift wrapped box with a nice note on the outside congratulating them on their new addition.

Given all of that-the best thing that we do is give good patient care-the other stuff doesn't matter. In fact, I found that patients that got poor care often complained about the extra things we did too!! There is no substitute but parents feel special when there are also little perks!