Infants 12 months or younger have the highest risk of falling or being dropped. Indeed, falls are the leading cause of Emergency Room visits in young children and the most common cause is a family member dropping a newborn after falling asleep. To address this important issue – and others in protecting newborns – the Mother Baby Unit at Chester County Hospital created an infant Safety Bundle program.
The Bundle raises awareness in three ways. It uses a safety agreement between new parents and the hospital to outline security measures in place at CCH (eg, always matching infant ID bracelets with moms), as well as measures to protect babies from falls, such as reminding moms to transfer a baby to the crib – or ask a staff member to – if they’re feeling tired.
Cribs in patient rooms now come with brightly colored tags, with lettering in English and Spanish, on the ABCs of infant safety: “I sleep ALONE on my BACK in my CRIB.” And a four-minute video (also bilingual) describes risk factors such as caregiver sleep deprivation and the side effects of maternal medication, encouraging safety measures like placing the infant in the crib immediately after feeding. New parents are clearly paying attention, said Jodi Levine, MD, who narrates the video. “I’ve had some positive reaction. People thank us for the reminders.”
The Safety Bundle also includes nursing education, reminding them to be on the lookout if a mom looks a little tired. “They can be pro-active and say, ‘Let me put your baby in a safe place in the crib for you.’ They are trying to trouble shoot for each individual patient as they come in,” Levine said.
The Bundle received an I Am Patient Safety Award from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority in 2018 for its use of Authority resources. It is one of only 10 overall winners, chosen from over 200 state-wide applicants.