TTRN

Yes, I too feel the strain being the only tri-lingual nurse on the unit however I always negotiate my services. If someone needs help I always ask for the one in need to help me in return. I can explain your surgical consent if you start my IV for example. And if I'm terribly busy I say" No, not at this moment" please use the interpreting service. As Americans we must be open to other cultures and meet their needs if we plan to deliver the best nursing care possible. Hospitals need to be equipped with interpreters, or interpreting services whether live or via telephone. I think the problem is that hospitals do not want to pay for these services due to budget cuts. As more immigrants enter our country in search for a better life, shouldn't we have interpreting services, teaching materials, and or consents that they can read and understand? If you were in a non-English speaking hospital I can guarantee you would feel frustrated and complain about the lack of English speaking personnel. Like most Americans we want the rest of the world to cater to us. We must remember this country is made of several races. Yes, English is the language spoken here however we should widened our horizons and perhaps learn another language so that we can serve ALL and not be so egocentric. By meeting with hospital administration and voicing our concerns over this issue we can bring improvement with our current situations. Lashing out that immigrants must learn English is un-professional and judgmental. Perhaps these people are in transition and attempting to learn. But how would you know if you can't speak their language, huh?

In our unit the developmental order is on the standard admission orders. The doctors just have to indicate by checking off order. By the next day the OT/PT's & Speech Pathologist that are specifically for our unit assess and evaluate the patient's gestational age, and utilize whatever developmental products are needed. Each patient has and individual developmental and feeding care plan that is posted at the bedside so that their caregiver can follow. We have a very large developmental closet that consists of gel pads, bendy bumpers for pre-term and full-term, Freddie the Frongs, snuggle-ups & toys. We also have several volunteers that actually make our isolette covers, crib covers, gel pad covers and freddie the frog covers. They also make our bereavement clothes, regular clothes, hats, knitted blankets, and socks. Keep in mind, introducing Developmental care in a unit is a slow process, primarily because it is a change, and most people don't like change. I would suggest sponsoring a conference on Developmental Care for your unit and inviting the doctors! Sincerely, TTRN:rotfl:

Definitely contain preemies as permitted. In our unit I have to say our developmental team has educated the neo's. We currently use equipment such as the bendy bumpers, freddy the frog bean bags, surf-boards made from t-shirts, gel pads, snuggle ups,isolette covers as well as crib covers. Our volunteers sew flannel sheets and pads for our babies to lay on. If baby's are swaddled we cover their eyes. All our kids are seen by speech therapist as well as physical therapist. All have developmental and feeding care plans by the bedside. All in sight for parents, nurses and doctors to follow. Our developmental/speech therapy is initiated upon admission. We don't see many ballerina babies and stiff babies like we used to 10 years ago. Perhaps start a developmental commitee or ask for your Nicu educator to sponsor developmental care conferences. I'm interested in working in Italy, is there a big difference in the NICU?

In our unit we have 2 seperate freezers, one is for Donor milk and the other is for mom's milk. The donor bottles all have labels that list the caloric value and batch number. The Donor milk batch # is placed next to the baby's hospital label and logged in. This is the only milk that is logged in. All milk is verbally double checked with another RN.