child safety

Nurses Safety

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Watching TV and they're talking about another little one having died after being forgotten in a hot locked car. Sixteen deaths so far this year - even one is too much!

Any suggestions to pass on to help prevent this tragedy. I was thinking there's GOT to be something out there to help.

Auto makers have installed all kinds of bells & whistles for luxury things in cars - why can't they come up with some kind of alarm or some electronic chip on the baby seat that connects to baby seat and the dash or driver's seatbelt. A mini baby cam?

Boy, if some engineer or even some really bright inventor could come up with something and patent it, what a blessing for preventing such a tragic accident.

My husband is the manager of a walmart here in Omaha.Last night they had a missing child, so they shut down the store for a hour. It was a 3 year old little boy. Nobody could find him, the mom wasn't even crying or seemed worried. Turns out he had walked DOWN a MAIN street and back to his apartment. ALL BY HIMSELF. The mother did not get cited or anything. She was very non-chalant about the whole thing.Really made me wonder what the hell is wrong with people. If that was my son I would be freaking out.

Better parents would help...

Lots of education, TV ads, and testimonies by parents. Not only hot cars but drownings.

In my line of work I get tired of seeing the same things come in over and over. Don't leave your kid in a car, watch your kid around water, make your kid wear a helmet, use seatbelt and corificeats, don't let your kid ride and ATV ever (in my opinion because outcomes are poor), lock up your guns, never shake a baby. People just don't seem to learn. I honestly think that people should be forced to take a parenting class before being allowed to bring their baby home from the hospital or something, but that's just me. It might stomp on people's civil liberties or something to be required to take parenting classes.

I have to agree with all the comments.. It kills me to think that parents are "accidentally" locking their baby / child in a hot car. Why not put the baby's diaper bag in the front seat? I don't have children, but whenever I drive somewhere and have to bring something with me that I need to take when I exit my car (bag / my lunch / briefcase), I put it next to me in the front passenger's seat, so that's the first thing I grab when I get out of the car. If the baby's diaper bag is sitting in the front passenger's seat next to the mom / dad, maybe that would remind them, "hey, I brought baby with me today!" Maybe I'm missing something since I don't have children, but it's just a thought..

Specializes in geriatrics, psych.

I was just recently reading about this issue and came across this news article.

http://www.wkrn.com/story/22872890/local-boy-invents-device-to-stop-children-being-left-in-hot-cars

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses. Angi/LPN (?RN)

I always put my purse in the back seat, whether my son is in the car or not.

As for the remark about "better parents"... Keep in mind this is something that happens to children of parents from many different socioeconomic, educational and professional backgrounds. While I'm sure there are a great number of cases where the parent/caretaker was truly negligent, there have been many instances where it was an accident. A devastating one, to be sure, and one that shouldn't be accompanied by excuses, but let's try not to be so quick to judge. Nursing is a compassionate profession, no?

I always put my purse in the back seat, whether my son is in the car or not.

As for the remark about "better parents"... Keep in mind this is something that happens to children of parents from many different socioeconomic, educational and professional backgrounds. While I'm sure there are a great number of cases where the parent/caretaker was truly negligent, there have been many instances where it was an accident. A devastating one, to be sure, and one that shouldn't be accompanied by excuses, but let's try not to be so quick to judge. Nursing is a compassionate profession, no?

True-- at our facility the parents of children involved in tragedies often come back later and give talks and are very active in public education. So brave of them to do that.

Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

A lot of women get prenatal care and I think the education should start at that point even before the child is born.Years ago I went to get a mammogram and before I could get it I had to watch a video all out mammograms and why they are important, Honestly I did not need the video (nothing I did not already know) but a lot of women do and I am certain they benefited from the information.

How someone can forget their child is in the car is beyond me. Even if I was just running up to the ATM I would take her out of her care seat because I thought.... what if someone hurts or takes me and there she left alone in my car! My daughter was so precious to me I had every protection I could think of covered including the most essential,constant supervision. Great idea to put you purse in the back seat!

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I have gone over this again and again in my mind...I can't, for the life of me, imagine how one would ever forget he/she had the child with him/her and leave the child in the vehicle...it's not like when you've misplaced your keys or forgot the shopping list.

Maybe people need to set the damn phone down and PAY ATTENTION!

Maybe an iPhone app notification...activated when the kid is in the seat

Your baby is in the car...Your baby is in the car.:banghead:

UNBELIEVABLE!

I don't leave my dog in the car for crying out loud.

I'm going to investigate an app for this...maybe I've just solved all my problems.

I cannot imagine leaving "forgetting" my child in the car. We are all distracted, mutitasking, on the phone, rushing around, sleep deprived, stressed, etc. There are just things that you HAVE to put first.. like your children. I cannot imagine how scared and miserable these children are during those long hours in the car. It breaks my heart when I hear these stories and while I try to remain compassionate as a Nurse, I have none for these parents or caregivers. I just want to know how no one else can hear these kids screaming and or crying when they walk by these cars? I'm sorry, but I always look if I hear a cry. I would call the police in a second if I saw a child in the car with the windows up and no adults around. Let them sort it out when the parents finally decide to show up.

About the weeks ago, I was driving to work. I was mentally "getting into the groove." As a new nurse, I was trying to prepare myself for what I was going to do to give my patients the very best care I could. When I pictured myself pulling into the parking lot and getting out of the car to walk in and start my day, I felt my face go white. My quiet little sleeping man was still nestled in the backseat, and I had passed the daycare about a quarter mile back.

After choking back the bile rising in my throat, I turned around, dropped my precious guy safely at school, and went to my job for the day.

What if I hadn't remembered? It still freaks me out to think about it. Sure, sometimes it is that people need to be more responsible or "set the damn phone down" ... but not always. Sometimes it's just a simple mistake that also happens to be the very worst mistake of someone's life. And they have to live with themselves.

As someone else already said, maybe we could be a little less judgemental.

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