kms6417

So glad something so simple worked so well for you. We don't have a problem with call ins, tho we have a strict policy against excessive call ins. Greater than 6/yr (running calendar) constitutes a write up for full time staff. These would be unexcused absences, not approved sick leaves. I guess you would have to wonder why staff are calling in so much. Do you have a written policy for excessive call-ins? Our accumulated sick time bank was taken away last year. If you call in, you have to cover those shifts with paid time off-hours from your vacation bank. That could be the deterient we have in place to keep call ins to a minimum. Thanks for your input for helping with our staffing crunch!

Trying to get a feel for other inpatient OB hospital units out there. Is your unit locked? How do you screen visitors? Do your infants wear security devices and if so, how often to to drill for an abduction? Thanks for any insight on how your unit handles security on your floor.

I am a weary staff nurse who blocked those calls a long time ago. Thanks for all of your ideas.

Thank you for all your input. I am a staff nurse who blocked those robocalls long time ago. This staff is weary and I personally worry when something bad will happen to a patient if this continues.

Ha!! Indeed. If we ran that place.....

Apparently they are looking into travelers at this time. Thanks

We are experiencing our typical summer baby boom at work and consequently are extremely short staffed on the large OB unit I work on. Usually a robocall will go out (similar to the one schools use to call off school) to alert staff that extra help is needed. All staff are called at one time. Typically they will first offer on call (time and a half pay) and single bonus (extra $10/hour). If they get no takers, the offer is increased to on call and double bonus (time and a half plus an extra $20/hour). Even though that is a lot of money, staff are tired of coming in extra and coming in and working very short staffed and therefor the response is dwindling. Does anyone have any other unique or innovative staffing incentives for times like these? I appreciate any ideas you may have. Tired in STL

Thanks so much for your response. I have been trying to be a "team player" and really giving it a try. Report does go a little faster with everyone using the same sheet. My own report worksheet kept me organized in MY way, so this new one is taking a lot of getting used to. Basically it's just standing at the patient's wallaroo (pull down outside the room that mom and baby charts are kept in) and exchange the same info we used to do while resting our weary legs from running all day when we gave report at the desk in the sitting position. We then go in and introduce the new nurse to the patient. It's a show for management that I am forced to act in.

What's the difference between exchanging this info "by the door" or at the nurses station where I can rest my weary 58 yr old legs?

What tool do you use to give report from?

0We will be starting bedside report (again) soon on our Mother Baby unit. Presently, we give report at the nurses station and each nurse transcribes this information onto their "own" report worksheet. This sheet is a personalized fill-in the-blank that each nurse carries with them throughout their shift. Soon they want a written kardex type sheet to be started by the unit secretary and updated and recopied to be used as a bedside handoff. They are not suggesting we use the EMR we presently document in. Management no longer wants to see nurses giving report at the nurses station and then going into the room to introduce the new nurse. How do other Mother Baby units handle bedside report? Every nurse organizes themself differently. No one uses the same report worksheet and many will now be recopying to their own sheet after report. How do you handle transfer of sensitive information? Some of our patients don't want their significant other to know they have a history of HSV or a previous pregnancy. Patients are sleeping frequently after being up breast feeding an infant all day or night and may not want this report to awaken them. Our unit has tried this before and it has not worked. I would appreciate any input from other Mother Baby unit or nursing units on how bedside report is handled on your floor. Thanks!

I agree. Our c-section patients receive Duramorph and anesthesia wants IV access x20 hrs. Access does NOT mean running IV fluids.

We will be starting bedside report (again) soon on our Mother Baby unit. Presently, we give report at the nurses station and each nurse transcribes this information onto their "own" report worksheet. This sheet is a personalized fill in the blank that each nurse carries with them throughout their shift. Soon they want a written kardex type sheet to be started by the unit secretary and filled and recopied to be used as a bedside handoff. Management no longer wants to see nurses giving report at the nurses station and then going into the room to introduce the new nurse. How do other Mother Baby units handle bedside report? Every nurse organizes themself differently. No one uses the same report worksheet and many will now be recopying to their own sheet after report. How do you handle transfer of sensitive information? Some of our patients don't want their significant other to know they have a history of HSV or a previous pregnancy. Patients are sleeping frequently after being up breast feeding an infant all day or night and may not want this report to awaken them. Our unit has tried this before and it has not worked. I would appreciate any input from other Mother Baby units on how bedside report is handled on your floor. Thanks!

I asked about delayed newborn baths a few years ago on this forum. I want to ask again because our Mother Baby UNPC group is trying to implement delayed newborn baths. I work on an OB unit that delivers 4000 infants a year. Infants remain w their mothers during their recovery. Presently, baths are given in the labor room the patient is being recovered in. Couplets are then transferred to Mother Baby. The proposed change would be to give newborns their first bath and shampoo at 24 hrs of life. This may sound simple, but implementing it will be quite a challenge to figure out who will give the baths, where to give them and how to warm up newborns after-skin to skin or under an Ohio table. Do other hospitals just wear gloves in handling an unbathed infant? Just wondering what other hospitals do for timing of baths. We have an all RN staff on the mother baby unit. We have 2 nurse techs and 1 RN staffing the nursery. Any help/suggestions on how this is handled in other hospitals. Thank you!

I work at a large nonprofit hospital system in St Louis MO. My present base salary is $40/hr, which is top of scale. I work on Mother Baby Unit. I am an RN with a Diploma degree. I work full time and believe it or not, have worked 35 years for the same employer since I was in nursing school. I work 12 day shift. We are paid a differential for evenings, nights, weekends, holidays, and time and a half for Christmas and Thanksgiving only. I work on a closed unit-meaning we staff ourselves and only get pulled within our floor-to NICU or LD. If we are in need of staff, management makes the decision based on need (staff needed and census based) to pay on call ( which is time and a half), call and bonus ($10/hr, or call double bonus.

Ha!! I will let you know what happens. Maybe even a before and after shots (no interior refrig shots tho or you will be sick)

How do other floors in hospitals ensure staff get their meal break? I work on a busy Mother Baby unit and don't want to hold anyone else's phone and watch their 4 couplets and mine too for someone to take their meal break. Meal time assignments seem impossible to make because admissions and discharges are constant on our floor. I also want to eat with my co-workers I enjoy being with-not someone I am assigned to eat with. Our Unit Practice Council is trying very hard to come up with a workable solution to getting an uninterrupted meal break. Any ideas out there?? Thanks!

Our nursing break room on a busy floor in a hospital is less than inviting. It is over stimulating, overcrowded and never stays clean. No matter how many times the refrigerator and microwave is cleaned out, it does not stay clean. I have decided to transform this room in hopes staff will find it a place they enjoy being in and want to keep tidy. Obviously, management isn't going to give us much in terms of a budget, but any ideas out there for making this room into a place of some peace while off the floor to gobble down a meal?? Thanks!

Our OB unit recently stopped stocking Redi-bath wipes due to budget cuts and plumbing issues with patients flushing them. We loved using these to clean up c/section patients. We used the designated microwave for them and they were warm and comforting to the patient. More importantly, THEY HELPED THE NURSE DO HER JOB! Needless to say, we are upset we no longer have these to use. No one wants to go back to the bath basin bar of dial soap days. I am wondering if any other hospitals out there have an alternative that is budget and plumbing friendly? Thanks!

Thanks for your info. I am a bit perplexted on how a Late Preterm infant falls into all of this. We have a very detailed admission order set for these infants and supplementation with formula is part of it. What do you do with a 35 wker who does not effectively nurse, mom is pumping and getting nothing?

Thanks! Those are some great suggestions for starting

Today our UPC group discussed starting the process in becoming a baby friendly hospital. We deliver over 4000 babies a yr. We have a great Lactation Department with IBLCE certified RN's. Can anyone give us some advise in getting staff on board with this. This is obviously going to be a real change in how we do things now. Changing our nursery setting to an area used only for hearing screenings and circs will be quite a transition for both staff and parents. We do Mother Baby care on our unit. Thanks

paying for you to take it from home is what I am really interested in. How is this done across the country? I thought legally speaking, your employer had to pay for certification required for your job-like CPR.

I live in Missouri. We have started the new NRP computerized testing. Is our employer required to pay for the hours spent at home testing? It is impossible to do this while working with a full assignment. If you do not pass a section, it locks you out and there is a required payment to open up the program. Our employer wants us to pay this amount out of our pockets and then get reimbursed later. How is this being handled in other areas of the country? Thanks!

this is a great idea, but at our hospital the mom and baby are not separated. They come out to post partum as a couplet. Most of the time (unless parents refuse) the infant is bathed in the room it was born in and rewarmed under that Ohio table. If the bath is delayed, so is the recovery and transfer to postpartum. If we do the bath after they are admitted to the floor, we would need a warmer in every room or babies would leave their mom after admit and go to the nursery for a bath and rewarm. Thoughts?