HospitalInspections.org

A. Based on review of Obstetric Department (OB) Unit Meeting Minutes, Daily Assignment sheet review, stated staffing practice, and staff interview, it was determined that for 34 of 108 shifts from August 1st thru September 5th 2010, the Hospital failed to designate a nursery nurse in the event a baby was placed in the nursery.

Findings include:

1. The OB Unit Meeting Minutes from 1/10 to 9/10 were reviewed on survey date 9/8/10 at 9:45 AM. The unit meeting dated 7/7/10 included as an agenda topic, " Nurse Responsible for Nursery. " The discussion included that starting 7/12/10 (Monday), an individual will be assigned who is responsible for the activities of the nursery. The new assignment sheet will identify who that individual will be for each shift.

2. The Daily Assignment sheets from August 1st thru September 5th were reviewed on 9/8/10 at 1:20 PM. Although there was no evidence to indicate the presence of babies in the nursery, assignment sheets lacked written designation of a nurse for thirty four (34) shifts during that time period (108 shifts).

3. During an interview on 9/8/10 at 1:30 PM, the Clinical Nurse Manager indicated that the practice for daily staffing was to assign a nurse to care for the babies in the nursery, whenever a mother/baby couplet was admitted " just in case the baby was placed in the nursery " . The above findings were confirmed during this interview.