Staffing Ratios for newborns with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome?

[deanpedsrn]

I am trying to find out what staffing ratios other hopitals are using when caring for infants with neonatal abstinence. The AAP recently undated their policy statement (Jan, 2012) on drug withdrawal. Neoadvances.com has an instructional manual Assessing Signs & Symptoms of Neonatal Abstinence Using the Finnegan Scoring Tool. This is an Inter-Observer reliability program that written by K. D'Apolito and was co-authored by Dr. Finnegan. This is a great resource and teaching tool. Please let me know what your current staffing ratio is with these very irritable newborns.

Thanks

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Our nurse/patient ratio with NAS babies is no different than our normal patient ratio, which is 1:4 or 1:5 on the general pediatrics floor.

The hospital staffing department doesn't exactly figure in "irritability" when evaluating the acuity of our patient load and the need for more/less nurses. Although, we do try not to assign more than one irritable baby to the same nurse, if possible, and we use the assistance of CNAs, child life staff, and other nurses (and of course the parents when they are present) to help soothe the baby when needed.

[NeoPediRN]

1:4 always

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Even in the NICU we usually get 2 other kids with a withdrawl kid. If we are slow we try to only take one other so that we can hold the baby, but that isn't always possible. We use cuddlers when they are there and other nurses tote them around when they have time.