Transportation of the deceased neonate

[StrwbryblndRN]

"wow, a picnic ... what are you doing here with a picnic basket?" i think at that moment, we both realized what the deal was.

so, in our hospital they use a picnic basket ... i'm not to keen on picnic baskets anymore. really ... how often do you see nurses with picnic baskets??

that is why i would think anything that brings attention to the staff transporting the infant would be horrible. picnic basket, decorated float, etc. who wants to try and explain what they are there for. staff who is handling the infant is most likely emotional as it is. makes for an awkward situation.

administration should be enlightened to this and hopfully change their policy if it does not meet the needs of everyone involved.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I've seen it done both ways - carried in a blanket and covered up; or in a bassinet with a drape over it. It's my feeling that either is appropriate. I've never ever met a family member that cared one way or another, as long as their baby was respected.

[j_audrey]

Not a NICU/OB nurse. Heck not even a nurse yet. As a parent whose baby has died I can tell you that the whole issue of how she was transported doesn't matter. It didn't matter, wasn't on the radar, heck wasn't even in the same universe. It really doesn't matter.

The only real consideration should be that the baby is transported in a manner that keeps other new, prospective or grieving parents from knowing that it is a/their dead baby. Seeing a baby fetus when you are going into labor could be stressful to say the least.

Anything else is mountain out a molehill.

I've been in those shoes, (my little boy) and it did really matter to me how he was transported and taken care of, but I think it was because it was the last bit of mothering I could do. That's how I know how Jamisen was transported and every step from there because I made the nurse explain it all.

You can never assume it because it did not matter to you, that it won't matter to someone else and their life.