Pts paying for night nursery care??

ixchel · May 10, 2012

I've just read this through again. Do you mean baby gets charged for being inpatient stay PLUS nursery? Or they used to always room in and now they're opening a nursery so there is now a choice of sending baby to nursery?

mombabyRN96 · May 10, 2012

They have always "roomed-in" as we don't have a nursery. Here is the kicker folks....they have to pay upfront for this service!! No billing to insurance!

sauconyrunner · May 10, 2012

I'm thinking that this won't be all that profitable. FOr heavens sake, having my newborn room in, or paying a bunch of extra cash up front? Most people aren't going to be able to afford the service, even if they want it. Did they research this and find that people were willing to pay up front?

NutmeggeRN, BSN · May 11, 2012

I bet som bean counter came uo with idea:uhoh3:....have they polled the nurses in L & D? Have they done exit interviews of moms who would have this opportunity? Have the cleared it with the ethics committee? Seems like double dipping to me. Yeesh!

OCNRN63, RN · May 11, 2012

they have always "roomed-in" as we don't have a nursery. here is the kicker folks....they have to pay upfront for this service!! no billing to insurance!

i simply don't understand how they can not be considered patients. what if something goes wrong with a baby? do they suddenly become a patient? is the baby a patient immediately after it's born? what if mom needs to sleep after she's labored and given birth? is she refused the opportunity to rest uninterrupted/

this sounds like an idea a man came up with.

Patti_RN · May 11, 2012

At our women's hospital, the mother is technically the patient. If the infant is born with or develops a problem, they are whisked to the children's hospital for treatment. So, I guess technically the infant isn't a patient. Again, common sense should dictate what is reasonable.

This could get ridiulous... Have the baby sleep in a recliner in the visitor's waiting room? Maybe not even let the baby stay because of age restrictions on children/ visitors? Make the baby go home when visiting hours are over? Hopefully, the baby gets her parking voucher stamped so she doesn't have to pay the full rate on her way out!

PetsToPeople · May 11, 2012

The baby would have to be considered a pt because they recieve tx such as the Vit K injection, etc. And a mother needs her rest but welcome to motherhood, from this day on you will pretty much always feel sleep deprived. If the father/family were encouraged to participate more they can help with the child while the mother rests, such as taking a feeding, diaper change, etc at 2 am, they will need to be doing this anyway, the best time to help them learn to do this is now.

And a big pet peeve of mine is the nursery, it should be EMPTY because all the babies should be where they belong and that is with their mothers. I also believe mom's should only be in the hospital for 24hrs unless there are specific reasons that they need a longer stay. The short time that mothers are in the hospital is VITAL for helping her with connecting with her baby, addressing questions on child care and care for herself, helping her with breastfeeding, etc. It IS NOT a place for her to come, birth her child then send him/her away to the nursery for hours at a time so she can rest and relax. This is partly to blame why so many women refuse to breast feed or give up on breast feeding.

Now OF COURSE there will be exceptions such as when you have an infant with health problems or mom is having problems, but other than that mother and baby should be encouraged to bond. I am a firm believe that when baby comes out he/she should go directly into mom's arms and he shouldn't leave those arms unless to sleep at mom's bedside. All baby care should be done in the room with mom/family present.

diosa78 · May 11, 2012

So, who is going to be liable if a mother can't afford to have a baby in the nursery and something happens to that baby?

When I had my 2nd baby, I was told to send my baby to the nursery if I was tired. I am a nurse at the same hospital I delivered. I got inside information that they liked babies to go to the nursery (even though we do rooming in) because several exhausted mothers dropped their babies onto the floor when she feel asleep breastfeeding. I stayed alone, had a C/S in the early afternoon, had no one stay with me, and I was not mobile at all. I couldn't feel my legs or move around, so how is that type of patient expected to take care of a baby without help.

In addition, my baby had apneic spells. I was specifically told by the neonatologist that I was not to keep the baby in my room if I was sleeping, showering, or not able to keep an eye on her. So, I would send her to the nursery where they would observe her apneic spells (which she had there as well). So, what are they going to do? Mom can't afford a nursery stay, but baby may need it as was in my case. Are they going to go to the NICU which, in effect, is even worse for bonding?

chevyv, BSN, RN · May 11, 2012

I had my son room in with me and the nurse would come in just after I changed and fed him and turned out the lights only to turn on the lights and tell me to feed him. I could have smacked her upside the head but I was too tired and too sore.

The idea of paying for a service like this makes me feel as though I should drop and run! Whats the point of staying at the hospital? I'm sure they have to make the newborn a pt once the umbilical cord has been cut so what's up with the service? I wonder if this would blend nicely in with another recent thread about the stupid things hospitals have done?

I would hear this while pregnant and finding out what hospital to choose and would be quickly choosing another one that might support me in recovery. Just my :twocents:

iyqyqr · May 11, 2012

I'm a NICU nurse who periodically has to take her turn floating to our hospital's newborn nursery. Our post-partum wing is new with large rooms and a couch that converts to a bed and a recliner so grandma, dad or both can room in with mom to assist her and help care for the baby, so mom can rest and recover from childbirth. But where is the baby? Not in the room with his mom where he can smell her and hear her voice and nurse on demand or bottle feed. No, the baby, who has also experienced the stress of the delivery, even if it is a normal one, and now finds himself in a totally new world, the baby has joined many others in the nursery and he is screaming his head off, protesting his separation from his mom . . . the mom who needs to rest and recoupe. Mom and dad aren't told that with this separation and crying his cortisol level may jump to 7 times the normal amount. This in turn can slow down his gut, the crying makes him gassy, so he may puke and he gets fatigued from hearing other babies cry and crying himself. Then, after 4 hours of crying and fitful sleep, if any, the clock finally indicates he can be taken back to mom to nurse or bottle feed. Back in her arms he may eat some, but then promptly falls asleep, as he is soothed by her heartbeat and smell and voice; only to awaken a short time later back in the nursery where the tragic cycle repeats itself. The last night I floated there were 32 mother/ baby couplets and by 0430 we had 22 babies in the nursery! At any given time 7-9 were crying and we did not have the staff to soothe them all.

When I would take babies out to moms to be fed, dad would be snoring and of no assistance to either mom or baby, so why was he there? If charging moms for nursery care will keep nurseries empty and babies IN THE ROOM where they need to be for their sakes, then I totally support it, except in cases where mom has had a very traumatic delivery or baby needs watching, or mom is drugged and truly has no family or friend to stay the 2 nights to help her. If babies had a voice, I know where they'd ask to be and it isn't the newborn nursery; charge or no charge. Why are we not advocating for them since they have the least coping skills to draw from?

pinkfluffybunny · May 11, 2012

After 14 hours of labor and pain medication, which before this the only pain reliever I had ever had was a tylenol, I couldn't imagine caring for the baby alone.

PetsToPeople · May 11, 2012

I'm a NICU nurse who periodically has to take her turn floating to our hospital's newborn nursery. Our post-partum wing is new with large rooms and a couch that converts to a bed and a recliner so grandma, dad or both can room in with mom to assist her and help care for the baby, so mom can rest and recover from childbirth. But where is the baby? Not in the room with his mom where he can smell her and hear her voice and nurse on demand or bottle feed. No, the baby, who has also experienced the stress of the delivery, even if it is a normal one, and now finds himself in a totally new world, the baby has joined many others in the nursery and he is screaming his head off, protesting his separation from his mom . . . the mom who needs to rest and recoupe. Mom and dad aren't told that with this separation and crying his cortisol level may jump to 7 times the normal amount. This in turn can slow down his gut, the crying makes him gassy, so he may puke and he gets fatigued from hearing other babies cry and crying himself. Then, after 4 hours of crying and fitful sleep, if any, the clock finally indicates he can be taken back to mom to nurse or bottle feed. Back in her arms he may eat some, but then promptly falls asleep, as he is soothed by her heartbeat and smell and voice; only to awaken a short time later back in the nursery where the tragic cycle repeats itself. The last night I floated there were 32 mother/ baby couplets and by 0430 we had 22 babies in the nursery! At any given time 7-9 were crying and we did not have the staff to soothe them all.
When I would take babies out to moms to be fed, dad would be snoring and of no assistance to either mom or baby, so why was he there? If charging moms for nursery care will keep nurseries empty and babies IN THE ROOM where they need to be for their sakes, then I totally support it, except in cases where mom has had a very traumatic delivery or baby needs watching, or mom is drugged and truly has no family or friend to stay the 2 nights to help her. If babies had a voice, I know where they'd ask to be and it isn't the newborn nursery; charge or no charge. Why are we not advocating for them since they have the least coping skills to draw from?

I can't "like" this post enough! I love mother/baby nursing but I could NEVER work on a hospital OB floor, and sad to say midwives are not allowed to practice around here. I could not stand my mother/baby and OB clinicals....I felt like I was the only sane person surrounded by crazy people, yet because they were the majority, I was the crazy one! This is not the way it should be! 5 or 10 yrs from now it will be completely opposite and the way it should be, and those people will look back and think "how horrible, what were they thinking!?".