Esther, I don't have the information right now in front of me but where I
work there is an information sheet printed up that states what the safe
staff to patient ratios are...maybe if you had this to back you up it could
help. I'll do some searching and see if I can find the source for you. At
the hospital I work we usually take care of 3-4 dyads on the night shift,
the staffing at your hospital seems very unsafe to me. We also have a
central nursery and most moms will bring their babes in at night so they can
get some sleep, I'd love to see rooming in strongly encouraged, but on the
other hand I do think it should be an option for the very exhausted mother
or the mother who is having complications.
I'll email back if I find the source of the staffing ratios.
Sheena Carnes
RN, LLL Leader
Iowa
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of EDG
Sent: Monday, December 27, 2004 7:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Speaking of hospitals
I am now totally responsible for anything that is related to
breastfeeding in my hospital, which means that now if there are
complaints against anything, it is my responsibility. I have a
committee of really great nurses working with me. IN our first meeting
on changing things, it was made clear to me that I have to work with
what staff there is and cannot add extra staff. Here is the situation:
9000 births per year.
1 part time non-nurse IBCLC ( moi). Many breastfeeding friendly and
knowledgeable nurses who are too busy to actually help with
breastfeeding on a full time basis and can only do so by chance.
Not enough nurses, especially at night when there are the most problems
( 4 nurses on 50 dyads). This is a common problem in most hospitals.
Now this brings up an issue. IN the rest of the hospital outside of
maternity, less staff at night makes sense. Sick people sleep at night,
usually with the help of medication. In the maternity ward, most are
healthy, and babies are more active at night for some reason, especially
the second night. Staff should be spread more evenly. NO can do, I am
told.
Ok, I want to maximize manpower, utilize the staff to the ultimate. I
look at what the nurses are doing which prevents them from helping moms.
What are they doing at night? Giving bottles to babies of moms who are
not breastfeeding!! Instead of being out in the rooms helping moms who
need their help, they are giving bottles to allow moms to sleep. Do any
of you see the problem in this?? Nonbreastfeeding moms should be
required to care for their babies just as breastfeeding moms are. The
responsibility of motherhood starts with conception, and not only when
the mom is released from the hospital. Isn't it strange that academic
nurses are sitting there feeding babies, surrounded by screaming babies
waiting to be fed, while out in the rooms, there are moms struggling
with breastfeeding and need help? Does it seem unreasonable to have all
moms take care of their babies at night?
Aside from baby friendly hospitals, are there any hospitals where moms
have to care for their babies at night? If so, how did you manage to get
this accepted?
I remember when I started working and talked about rooming in and
allowing babies to feed when they wanted to regardless of the clock, I
was met with the same resistance, yet today, moms who choose can have
full rooming in, and breastfeeding by the clock is something to make
jokes about.
The administration will see this as a problem because no one will want
to come to our hospital, but if this is done everywhere, and if moms are
educated early about the fact that babies need their mothers also at
night, we could change it. Until we free the night staff to help moms,
I will continue doing breastfeeding rehab in the morning, helping
exhausted moms and babies who were given bottles at night because the
moms did not get enough help.
Any suggestions, wise ones?
Esther Grunis, IBCLC
Lis Maternity Hospital
Tel Aviv Israel
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.296 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
