Nicu Nurses- what does your unit do with bedside supplies

[laurens115]

What level Nicu is your unit. ex: Mine is Level III C in KY

Where do you keep your supplies? Is there a set of drawers for each bedside stocked full of supplies. Or is there a centralized cart for the whole nursery.

How is your nursery set up? private rooms or pods with 6 or so beds etc.

In the patients Bed drawers (isolette drawer, basinett drawers, radiant warmer drawers) what do you guys keep? Ex: we have linen, diapers, formula, wipes bottles nipples etc.

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

Moved to NICU Nursing for more response.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We are in pods with 6 beds to a room. Each bedspace has a set of pull out drawers that we stock with things like diapers, linen, formula, bottles, etc. each pod has a cereal cart that holds things like IV start kits, specimen tubes, tubings, alcohol/chlorhex swabs, etc. if a room goes into isolation the cart is moved to the hall so that it does not become contaminated.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We are in pods with 6 beds to a room. Each bedspace has a set of pull out drawers that we stock with things like diapers, linen, formula, bottles, etc. each pod has a cereal cart that holds things like IV start kits, specimen tubes, tubings, alcohol/chlorhex swabs, etc. if a room goes into isolation the cart is moved to the hall so that it does not become contaminated.

Should be central cart lol have to love auto correct lol.

[laurens115]

What is kept in the actual isolette/warmer/crib ? anything?

on a team to help reorganize our unit.

[laurens115]

What is kept in the actual isolette/warmer/crib ? anything?

on a team to help reorganize our unit.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

Some nimrod at my hospital has decided that it's a JCAHO violation to have any supplies kept in the bedside drawers and have removed everything, so we waste a large part of our day walking back and forth to the various supply closets.

I always fill the drawers around my beds when I get to work, and often find the day shift has emptied it when I return the next shift.

Surrounded by primitive screwheads.

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

In the bedside drawers: Diapers, measuring tape, clothes/blankets/hats/socks etc. Extra snuggies

Every patient also has a full 5 drawer supply cart where we keep everything from lab tubes to wound supplies to IV tubing.

We have all private rooms and this is standard practice throughout the ICU's - NICU/PICU/CICU

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

What is kept in the actual isolette/warmer/crib ? anything?

on a team to help reorganize our unit.

We don't keep anything in the isolate or warmer drawers. The only time we put stuff in warmer drawers is if it is set up for an admission, so then it is line kits, etc.

And the only thing I can see being a violation are some lab tubes since the expiration dates for them are only on the box, and Meds. I love how people make up stuff.

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

And the only thing I can see being a violation are some lab tubes since the expiration dates for them are only on the box, and Meds. I love how people make up stuff.

Our lab tubes all have the expiration dates on the tube, once a month we go through the ones in our carts to check for expired stuff, techs go through carts in empty rooms

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

To the OP:

The unit where I work allows some supplies in the infant's bed drawers (be it giraffe, RW or OC) and a bedside cart with a larger drawer for general hospital linens, a larger drawer for personal supplies such as clothing, a smaller drawer for feeding supplies such as bottles, nipples, oral syringes & feed tubing. Another smaller drawer keeps IV supplies, heelwarmers, lancets, alcohol, chloropreps, saline wipes, leads, KY packets and a few other odds & ends.

The infant's bed drawer will usually have suction catheters, saline bullets, tapes, extra positioners, leftover hemostats, scissors, topical creams, diaper creams and maybe some extra hats.

An interesting thing is that they used to change their minds every few months about what happened when the infant was discharged. Obviously if packaging had been opened, then the supply was discarded, but I never could keep up with whether we were discarding or crediting back intact supplies. Thankfully for the past several years, we've stayed consistent with crediting back supplies with intact packaging (as long as the infant is not in isolation).

Bortaz. . .

It always amuses me what each hospital tries to pass off as "Joint Commission" requirements that are really just some management type's preference. I used to call them on it when I worked at two different hospitals by questioning why another hospital 10 miles away just passed their survey and they aren't required to or forbidden from . . . . I got them to admit on a few things that it was really a "physician preference" or "Well, our manager prefers".

[littlepeopleRNICU]

Level 3

Every baby has their own cart with a sanitizer on top. One side of the cart has an area for boxes of gloves. The other side has a sharps container. The front is made of drawers, where supplies are kept, like IVs, diapers, wipes, soft pads, heel warmers, NG tubes, syringes, formula, bottles and nipples, etc. There is a supply pyxis between each pod. The formula, diapers, linens, etc. are kept in a separate supply room, and there's only one for the whole unit.

We have 7 pods and two "rooming in" rooms. They are used for some babies the night before discharge, so parents can come in and do what they would do if the baby were at home without us. The rooms are under surveillance. We also have a pumping room.

Then there are the ECMO room and all the lounges...MD/NP, respiratory, resident workspace, and quiet counsel room.