Creating a safe environment for mom and baby
Providing new mothers and their babies with a safe, secure environment is one of the ways Lancaster General Women & Babies Hospital is working to create the most rewarding birthing experience possible.
From the moment you arrive at the labor and delivery room until the day your new family heads home together for the first time, the medical and security staff at Women & Babies is making sure you can focus on caring for your newborn without having to worry about safety.
“Enforcing our safety and security policies is always a priority,” says Dr. Tony Castle, Senior Vice President of Administration at Women & Babies. “We want our mothers, babies and visitors to know that we are doing everything possible to ensure their safety, so that they can focus their attention on this important and exciting time of their life.”
Labor & Delivery: Five at a time
The moment of birth is one most mothers want to share with other loved ones. That’s why Women & Babies allows up to five visitors at a time in the room.
“In the best interests of mom and her infant, we need to limit the number of visitors to five,” says Lisa Mendez, RN, Nurse Manager of Labor & Development at Women & Babies Hospital.
Fortunately, a mother is permitted to allow as many visitors as she wishes to visit her in the labor and delivery room. “If she already has five visitors, when another person arrives, he or she can call the patient’s room to let her know he or she is here, and wait in the lobby until someone else leaves and they can swap places,” Lisa says.
This limit is necessary to allow medical staff full access to mom and infant, especially if an emergency care situation arises.
Access to areas like labor and delivery or the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are locked down, so that only authorized personnel and visitors are in the unit.
Also, before baby and mother are transferred to their room in couplet care, hospital policy requires that a qualified hospital employee accompanies the child and family member during any transport. “It’s important for security, as well as good support for the father or family member to make sure the child gets to the right location promptly,” Lisa says.
ID Bracelets
To identify each baby with his or her parents, every child is given an identification bracelet that matches with the parents before leaving the labor and delivery room.
In addition, each child is protected with a security sensor during their stay in the couplet care unit.
“If the child is taken too close to any of the doors, the system locks down immediately throughout the hospital to make sure the infant is not taken outside this secure area,” Lisa says.
Think Pink
Moms can also identify medical staff that is authorized to care for them and their babies by a pink strip that is on their name badges.
“That pink strip is your assurance that the person is qualified to provide care for your baby,” Lisa says.
“We are trying to promote the safest environment possible for mother and baby to have the best experience possible during there labor, delivery and postpartum stay at Women & Babies,” she says.
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