Primary Care Nursing?

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Specializes in NICU, Newborn and Maternal Health.

I'm just curious about Primary Care Nursing. Our unit used to do it a long time ago and then stopped. Recently with more research showing family-centered care equals better outcomes for babies a few of us nurses have chosen to advocate for it again. Our feeder Level 3 does it all the time now so parents also come expecting it.

I work in a level 2 so having a consistent caregiver is especially important for the chronic babies that need a consistent person to bottle well. I think it's nice for moms too. Lots of nurses don't like it though because they want more variety. I can see their point too. After weeks of the same baby it's also hard not to get overly invested.

Thoughts? Do your units do it? Do you like it or not? Why?

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

We do it. Not everyone signs up for primaries or associates as they like the nomad life lol Most kids have 2 primary nurses, one day and one night with a few associate nurses scattered over the 3 shifts. It is great for our big chronic kids. I like the big chronic kids, so I will associate them when they are older.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

Our unit does it but it is not well organized and there aren't really that many babies that get picked compared to the overall population. I did an extensive review of the literature on the topic if anyone is interested. It was part of a qualitative study on nurses' experiences with primary care nursing. Just course-work related, extremely small sample, just enough to practice collecting and analyzing data.

Personally, I really like it and the parents love it. Especially for those kids that will be there at least a month or more. It is a very significant and impactful relationship that works to the infant's benefit.

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Specializes in NICU, Newborn and Maternal Health.

I would love to see the research!

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.
I would love to see the research!

I will private message you some information. It would not be kind to the website for me to copy/paste my entire review of literature and my "research" findings have only been put into a powerpoint. I put quotes around the research because it was not an official study but rather a course related exercise. I hope it was very study-like since I will likely be conducting a full-blown study in the next couple of years!

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Specializes in NICU, Newborn and Maternal Health.

I'm still a newbie so I can't private message but I think I can receive them? I'd love to see it.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

I sent you a PM. I think it would have blocked me if I couldn't send it. I think you might not be able to send any until you have 25 messages, but I think you can receive. If not, head over to the board where they welcome new members or the one where new grads post about passing NCLEX. Throw out some congrats and build your message count. Easy peasy!

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Specializes in NICU, Cardiac.

TiffyRN, can you send me the research?

Our unit does primary nursing occasionally. I've actually got my first primary right now :) The choice to primary is a choice by both the nurse and the patient, and our unit has specific guidelines including the level of experience needed to primary. A lot of people don't like to do it because eventually taking care of the same baby can be tiring. We only care for the baby while they are in the NICU, once they move to our Stepdown unit, they move to the nurses over there. The people who have a primary frequently go over and snuggle their baby since our units are attached.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.
TiffyRN, can you send me the research?

PM me your email address and a I'll send you my review of the literature.

Also, I'll be happy to share the link to the powerpoint with voiceover that I did. It is on the topic of how those relationships develop between nurses and families from the nurse's perspective.

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Specializes in ICU, Postpartum, Onc, PACU.

I'm just flat out jealous as I'm trying to get a post partum job! Good to read through these comments, though, because it gives me ideas:nurse:

xo

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I loved primary care when it was implemented eons ago at a Children's Hospital. More recently, I've read numerous posts where nurses are expressing a negative view. They say that their unit managers would apparently think total care with fewer patients was an easy assignment, and gave them more patients accordingly. Not good. :eek:

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

I encountered several problems trying to do my literature search. One of the biggest issues is that there are so many definitions of "primary nursing".

There's what I intended: a nurse who commits to caring for a patient consistently during their admission. But it can also bring up hits on articles about NPs caring for patients in a primary care setting.

It can also mean a different style of nurse assignment where the nurse provides all care for a patient during a given shift, without assistance from an aide, or med nurse. All have their value, but the similar terminology can be confusing.

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