Nurse Fired for not....

Yikes!!! I feel for him/her too..also for the Mom and baby..just glad they caught the error before they left the hospital :/ my motto: things could ALWAYS be worse.

Yes, on mother baby units everyone knows that is the big no no.

When I work nursery and my co-workers asked "How is it?"

I always respond, " It's fun."

" There's only two things you gotta know.

One, always check the baby's armband number with the mom's arm band number BEFORE you hand over the baby.

and, second, Don't drop the babies!! "

Pretty simple.

If you can't manage THAT,

you deserve to get fired.

Be4 I get flamed, yeah yeah, I know it helps to know more.....

the point being made is:

At my hospitals, the nursery and post partum nurses say ...............

we can forgive/fix/undo/redo ANYTHING,

but,

#1.

#2.

"screw up there and you're on your own."

Glad to see this thread.

I am applying for a spot on a maternal-NB floor (first contact since my OB rotation), and I figured that was pretty important, and I always double check anyway, but now, thanks to you guys.....

I WILL EMPHASIZE THAT IN THE INTERVIEW and DOUBLE CHECK EACH TIME--if I get the job.

Wish me luck!

Originally posted by chris_at_lucas

Glad to see this thread.

I am applying for a spot on a maternal-NB floor (first contact since my OB rotation), and I figured that was pretty important, and I always double check anyway, but now, thanks to you guys.....

I WILL EMPHASIZE THAT IN THE INTERVIEW and DOUBLE CHECK EACH TIME--if I get the job.

Wish me luck!

:balloons: Best of luck on landing that job Chris!

Whoa. Sure sounds harsh, but I'd also hate if something had gone terribly wrong with that babe... just can't be too careful anymore.

I do hate it for the nurse... right before Christmas and all... but then again, what if the baby had "vanished" from the hospital...? That poor mother.. ????... also right before Christmas.

A hard lesson learned.

thank you for the wake-up call....it bears repeating even to us experienced mom/baby nurses.

They wouldn't let me without checking out our bands even though out of 5 babies mine was the only girl there. And the nurse was my cousin at that, but still, it made me feel better knowing that she still did her job and checked the bands.

At our hospital, we were told we could not even take the baby all the way into the room until the bands were checked. I rolled the baby from the nursery into the moms room and stopped just inside the room. Then checked the bands, and THEN pushed the bassinette to the bedside.

We had a "secret" color of stripe on our id badges that identified us as nursery nurses. The mom was not to release her infant to any nurse who did not have the secret stripe in clear view.

Frequently dads would follow us back to the nursery to see that we pushed the baby into the nursery.

No baby was allowed to be carried out of the hospital, by mom or nurse. UPon discharge, all infants were pushed to the moms car , behind moms wheelchair, by the nurse.

Our hospital had a policy that any newborn being carried by anyone was to be considered an infant abduction. The alarm was sounded if we saw anyone carrying a newborn....Doors slam, alarms sound , and security is everywhere !! We were also told that anyone visiting and carrying a child in a blanket - - - to scrutinise - - - to be sure it was NOT a newborn, and they had to have a pass from security. Usually infants under 6 months were not seen in the hospitals...visiting c adults.....

No mom wants another mom breastfeeding her infant in this day of HIV and Hepatitis, etc....

Failure to check is a sentinel event for the hospital...one loaded with liability consequences.....

Lawsuits for angst and a dozen other things....even if no one was actually physically harmed.

The hospital has no recourse in such a situation but to fire the nurse for her inability to focus on the task at hand and recognise the gravity of the situation.

The hospital has to fire her to assure the parents/ the public it will not happen again.

It is a " good faith" move by the hospital.

No second chances with this much at stake.

Tough break for the nurse....but that's the way the ball bounces on the newborn unit.

You guys have given me another viewpoint of working a mother baby unit...its not all babies and fun is it?

No room for error here...I can see. Coming from ICU where I have 2 or 3 patients and can recognize them easily, the armband issue is not so huge.

Thanks for the insight into another practice area.

When my first baby was born, the Army was so strict about releasing the new bundle of joy after 24 hours into the mother's care FULL TIME. There was no returning baby to nursery so mother could sleep, eat, potty, or anything else. It was our baby and they made sure we got the gest of that after the first 24 hours.

I had to take her temperature and record it on the baby chart at the end of my bed. I had to write on the baby chart how many wet diapers and poops the baby had (color, consistency, etc.) and I was only 18 years of age when baby # 1 was born. It was mandatory for both mom and soldier (dad) to attend a "parent class" before baby was born so no mom or dad could say "We've never............"

I only remember seeing a REAL nurse ONCE after my baby was released to me. When it was time for me to get the baby (24 hours after her birth), I had to WALK to the windowless nursery, stick my arm in this cubby of a hole to show my I.D. band so it could be matched up with my baby's band and chart, then the nurse would open the nursery door that no patient or visitor could enter except the baby; she wheeled the baby out to me in the bassinette, and off I went........sore bottom and all.......walking slowly up the hall with my baby and babybed.

The one time I saw the "Major Nurse" was when I passed an extremely LARGE clot two days after giving birth. Only then did they wheel me to see the doctor who was in another building. Think he'd come to my room? Heck no! You moms today have it made. You birth your babies in the lap of luxury compared to 33 years ago with the Army when my first baby was born.

It was amazingly different when my 3rd child came along. She was the only baby I had in a Civilian Hospital, and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I didn't have to keep baby if I was too tired to care for her in the hospital. I didn't have to get up and walk to the food cart, pick up my own food tray, then take it to the dining hall to eat. No one could eat in their room. Every mom had to go to the dining hall to eat whether she felt like it or not. I didn't have to make my own bed, or change the linen on the bed myself like I did when baby #1 was born. And.........get this.......the nurse came round the clock to my bedside to check on me and baby. And.....THE DOCTOR even came to my room to see me and the baby! Ohhhhhhh the luxury moms today have versus years ago.