My Kingdom for some linen!!!

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we're having trouble with frequently running out of linen in the nursery. sometimes its due to a surge in the census that suddenly makes the par levels inadequate, but we are aparently the top user in the system.

anyone have suggestions for conserving linen and cutting costs?

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.

OK maybe I'm missing something here, but worrying about linen should be the last thing on your mind. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! I would be very irritated about that. You should be given the tools to do your job well. Isn't L and D a huge money maker for any hospital? Do you have a Union? I suppose you are talking about baby sized linen? Like for the cribs? Hey, I'd probably sneak some from another unit and cut it down to size. Another case of ADMINISTRATION ABSURDITY!!!

So sorry you are forced to deal with this unnecessary Bull Crap! :down:

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Everywhere I have worked and every department I've worked in we have always had linen issues.

Good luck.

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Specializes in Family NP, OB Nursing.

Working in L&D/nursery I agree we need linen, and like you said sometimes it's just a big surge in deliveries. I don't think most of management understands how much linen is used for a normal delivery. Just for babe I usually go through:

3-4 blankets or towels to dry the baby

1-2 t-shirts

2 blankets to wrap the baby in

2 blankets or towels for the bath

1 t-shirt after the bath

2 more blankets

1 burp cloth

1 sheet

All that is if everthing is "normal" and how often is that?!?

We fight this battle every once in awhile. It helped when we started prestocking our cribs with all the linen we would need after the bath...they still get soooo annoyed when we call and say "we need more blankets..." usually they come back with, "We brought you your daily linen already." I once told the Env. Service manager, "Well you come down here and tell the new mom why her naked newborn can't have a blanket! You can also call the doc and tell them why the baby is hypothermic." A cart of linen appeared in about 5 minutes.

deeDawntee you said, "Isn't L and D a huge money maker for any hospital?"

L&D is almost always a loss for the hospital (at least for small community hospitals without NICU)...simply because labors are so "nurse" intensive and they honestly aren't reimbursed that well.

Think of it this way; regardless of how long a labor lasts (2 hrs-20hrs) the pt is billed the same for the labor room. Regardless of how difficult the delivery is (spontaneous delivery without complications or 3 nurses to assist...) the delivery bill is the same (with the exception of added supplies). Nurses are the biggest part of the hospital budget, so 5 pts and 3 nurses looks really bad to the bottom line. Where I am babies don't count on the census...so 5 moms/5 babes looks like 5 pts to the people behind the big desk upstairs.

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I hate to say this, but we have had to be very careful not to overstock cribs that go into our postpartum rooms. AND we no longer hand out any diaper bag thingies until just before discharge. There were some ethically challenged folks who would cram all the linen they could manage (as well as diapers and forumula) into a diaper bag and leave with it. Some would even send a visitor out with the bag, have them empty it, and bring it up to fill again.

Now, we keep much closer tabs on who is using how much linen. With serious offenders, we dole things out very sparingly.

People who do this are a small percentage of our patient population, but they can take enough for 5-6 babies.

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.
Working in L&D/nursery I agree we need linen, and like you said sometimes it's just a big surge in deliveries. I don't think most of management understands how much linen is used for a normal delivery. Just for babe I usually go through:

3-4 blankets or towels to dry the baby

1-2 t-shirts

2 blankets to wrap the baby in

2 blankets or towels for the bath

1 t-shirt after the bath

2 more blankets

1 burp cloth

1 sheet

All that is if everthing is "normal" and how often is that?!?

We fight this battle every once in awhile. It helped when we started prestocking our cribs with all the linen we would need after the bath...they still get soooo annoyed when we call and say "we need more blankets..." usually they come back with, "We brought you your daily linen already." I once told the Env. Service manager, "Well you come down here and tell the new mom why her naked newborn can't have a blanket! You can also call the doc and tell them why the baby is hypothermic." A cart of linen appeared in about 5 minutes.

deeDawntee you said, "Isn't L and D a huge money maker for any hospital?"

L&D is almost always a loss for the hospital (at least for small community hospitals without NICU)...simply because labors are so "nurse" intensive and they honestly aren't reimbursed that well.

Think of it this way; regardless of how long a labor lasts (2 hrs-20hrs) the pt is billed the same for the labor room. Regardless of how difficult the delivery is (spontaneous delivery without complications or 3 nurses to assist...) the delivery bill is the same (with the exception of added supplies). Nurses are the biggest part of the hospital budget, so 5 pts and 3 nurses looks really bad to the bottom line. Where I am babies don't count on the census...so 5 moms/5 babes looks like 5 pts to the people behind the big desk upstairs.

Oh my goodness, phewwww, I had no idea, yes that makes sense to me now. I am always learning so much on this website. Thanks for the information!!

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deeDawntee you said, "Isn't L and D a huge money maker for any hospital?"

L&D is almost always a loss for the hospital (at least for small community hospitals without NICU)...simply because labors are so "nurse" intensive and they honestly aren't reimbursed that well.

Think of it this way; regardless of how long a labor lasts (2 hrs-20hrs) the pt is billed the same for the labor room. Regardless of how difficult the delivery is (spontaneous delivery without complications or 3 nurses to assist...) the delivery bill is the same (with the exception of added supplies). Nurses are the biggest part of the hospital budget, so 5 pts and 3 nurses looks really bad to the bottom line. Where I am babies don't count on the census...so 5 moms/5 babes looks like 5 pts to the people behind the big desk upstairs.

Pardon me while I highjack my own thread...:lol2:

Actually, we DO charge for a more intensive delivery - at least nursery does. We charge extra for neonatal standby per hour (waiting for preemie w/ active labor, etc...), resuscitation, ET intubation, high risk transition per hour (NB needing pulse ox, extended obs., etc.). I'm not sure if our L&D has this same system - never did their charges.

But back to the linen thing, this was a serious question. Our managers ARE fighting for adequate linen for us. No problem there. But in a system of several hospitals (we are not the largest) we are still the top user. The bottom line is that we are charged for our linen use. If we can cut costs without compromising patient care, why not do it?

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Viva la revolution!!

with babies, you tend to use alot of towels PERIOD...

add to that the mother, and of course Dad..

I actually do have a few practical suggestions that may help..

1. Keep the family away from the towels... they are for baby and mother...

I have seen family members help themselves to washcloths and towels while "helping" you while you are with another new baby..

During a Delivery, the focus is all eyes on the new baby and cleaning up...

it is easy for visitors to access the fresh linens during delivery..

so my quick fix...

move linen at the ends of the halls closest to the desk so that if even during a delivery... where most of the staff is in the Labor and Delivery area...the unit secretary can watch out for surprise raids on the linen cart from family members...

HOWEVER;

We still need more Linen!!!

The states keep cutting the budget to the nursing homes and the hospitals...

We need another Baby Boom... and we need Money put back into the Healthcare system...

we just need more linen man,

what's a Jedi gotta do to get clean towles around here???

I hide my towels, first thing in the morning, as soon as the laundry lady brings out the linen, I grab the towels I know im going to need, and a few extra and hide them... That seems to help a little bit...

lol:idea:

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FYI - we have wash cloths (rags), baby blankets, pillow cases & t-shirts on our cart. We make our cribs with mattress inside pillow case, blanket tucked all around that, pillow case folded and tucked in covering space under baby's head and torso -- baby with shirt, two blankets for swaddle and one rolled behind back to keep on side.

Here are some ideas we came up with:

  • Use only one rag as a bib unless you know s/he's a messy eater (some nurses use 2 all the time)
  • teach the family how to properly use folded rags as bibs to keep the other linenes clean when feeding and afterwards for spits
  • only change linen when dirty (i.e don't change the entire crib down to the matress just beacuse it's bath time)
  • bathe babies every 2 days instead of every day (unless needed)
  • minimally stock the cribs with extra linen (this prevents hoarding by families and clean linen being discarded into the hamper upon discharge)
  • use a half a chux under a pillow case or blanket covering on the bottom half of the bed for parents who are 'diapering impaired'
  • Find inflatable supports for bath sinks that can be disinfected between babies instead of linen that soaks up a lot of water. (I heard linen was charged by dirty/wet weight - anybody know?)
  • One last thing - at another hospital I worked for, we had a bin for 'clean' linen that was dirty, torn, or otherwise unsuitable for use with patients. We could put unusable linen there so we would not be charged for it.

Anyone have any other suggestions to add to these?

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Specializes in nursery, L and D.

We use a lot of linen. pillow case for mattress, two cloth diapers over that, baby in t-shirt and swaddled with 2-3 blankets, then covered and "tucked-in" with two more blankets. And we have the occasional parent that packs the suitcase full, also.

I use the babies dirty blankets (unless they are really dirty) to dry babies after the bath, and I try to put the top two blankets out of harms way during the bath, so they can be reused. I only use 1 cloth diaper for burping. For the first bath, I usually only use 1 blanket to dry. (we use blankets instead of towels)

I might think of more, I'll let you know. And this should be in past tense, as I am starting a new job tomorrow!

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