One quarter of our census are withdrawal kids

Specialties NICU

Published

Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

And it is just tiring! Our census is high, or staffing is low and there is no where to send these poor kids. Peds won't take them when they are on the triple cocktail of phenobarbital, clonodine and morphine. Even the cuddle people are getting burnt out, and of those kids not even half of their parents or families are around.

We are seeing more and more kids...even more Subutex with poly drug use and those poor kids are the worst. We are all getting burnt out.

Just had had to vent! Anyone else seeing a huge jump in their withdrawal population?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, OB, ICU, Public Health Nursing.

I am recently retired RN and I have been thinking about volunteering at the public hospital where I used to work as a case manager. I know they have a number of withdrawing babes and there is a special training for volunteers to rock and cuddle. From your post, it sounds like maybe it would be helpful and good use of my spare time?

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

Absolutely! We appreciate our holders so much!!!

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

We LOVE our cuddlers!

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Specializes in NICU.

We opened a special unit just for the NAS babies and we already have exceeded it's capacity and need to expand.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

There is talk of our peds floor opening a unit, but it would be filled right up! It is so sad that we are seeing this many kids, and they are horrible withdrawal kids...many poly substance abusers. Just sad.

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Specializes in ER.

In my opinion, once you've had one addicted baby, mandatory sterilization is in order.

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OP, I'm not a NICU nurse, but I am an L&D nurse, and YES, we are seeing a big boom in withdrawal kiddos, too! Makes for an interesting shift when you just want to strangle the parents for ignoring what their habits are doing to that baby. :(

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Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

We've also have had a huge influx over the past couple months as well. It is indeed tiring...and it's even harder watching them going home to who only knows what.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Perinatal, Endoscopy, IVF Lab.

HUGE problem in our area too. We have our own unit for them now with 18 beds that says full ALL THE TIME. It's sad and exasperating. If we have a whole generation of women in this child-bearing age group who think it's nothing to gestate their baby on all this crap... what is coming in the future with all these drug-dependent kiddos? What will the long-term affects be? What a mess. I think they should immediately lose custody of the child and possibly do jail time for child abuse. I'm for bringing back orphanages, because that's what it would take to care for the influx of babies.

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