newborn registrations

[davima3]

I'm interested in how other hospitals handle newborn registrations. We currently register newborns at the request of the birthing RN after delivery, stabilization and initial assessments. This means it is often 15-20 minutes before the request for registration is made to Patient Access ... and that's for a stable baby. In the future, we'll need a bar-coded armband from registration ASAP so we can give meds, perform lab tests, etc. So, we need to greatly shorten the time from birth to request. This is a challenge because the demands on the nurse are so great and the availability of other staff is limited. I'm sure this is a common challenge, so I'm wondering how others address newborn registrations. Do you use a pre-registered account number for the baby and fill in the details post-partum? Do you have a mobile registration person in your mother-baby unit? I'm looking for ideas and/or best practices. Thanks!

[mommatrauma, RN]

We do a check-in for all of our pts...if we waited for registration for our barcodes it would be 10 years later....we check them in and either match it with their old med rec number or assign a new one (if they've never been here before)...Then we can print our own barcode labels for meds and testing and such...we do it for our NB's and our reg patients...if we mess something up...when registration does come in..they will just merge the two accounts so the med rec number doesn't change and cause any problems...works well!

[palesarah]

when baby is born, someone (either the aide or another nurse, whoever has a free moment) calls the info down to registration as soon after birth as possible. We don't wait for initial assessments or anything, the only delays would be if a baby was SO unstable and required so much support that no one was available to call patient reg.

The parents sign for baby when they are signing for themselves at admission, so patient registration just has to do their little magic with the computer and get them into the computer system, usually the baby is in the system within minutes of birth. That's the current system

In a few months, our secretary/aides are going to be taking over patient registration duties for our floor, we'll have our own sticker/bracelet printers on the floor and it's going to make everything much easier for everyone (including the aides/secretaries, who will no longer have to wait for the sticks to come up to finish putting charts together). And since many of our aides are nursing students, it's another way for them to get pt contact (we like to try to get the students in to see as much as possible, and when they've already met & spoken with someone, they seem more willing to allow her back in to hold a leg whilethe pt pushes!)

[baby&mommynurse]

As soon as a baby is born, the baby is admitted as a patient by the unit secretary. The baby is issued a medical record number and all information is put into our computer system. Any problems with admissions are addressed to the admitting department so they can make the appropriate corrections. Four bands with the same information are distributed upon baby's birth. The baby is banded on the wrist and ankle with birth information and mother's medical record number and mom gets a band with the same information. The FOB or significant other or whoever mom allows to have the other band gets the other. If no one is present with mom at birth, she gets both bands. Once the baby is admitted and has his/her own MR #, labs and medications can be ordered through our computer system and given per MD order or set protocol orders. We have our own printer/machine on our unit to create a bar coded lab band also gets placed on the patient. This can be printed up once the baby is admitted into the hospital system. Since everything is done soon after the baby is born, we have no problems with delays in giving meds or having labs done.