Q1: Sarah asks you if she can see her baby again. You kindly arranged a video call an hour ago as Baby Theo is still in another hospital.
What would you do?
Let Sarah know that you have heard her request and you will get back to her once you have
finished helping all the other patients – When reassuring Sarah that I have listened to her request I will explain that I have other patients to see and a duty of care for everyone but will look into her request more once I have finished as I completely hear how hard being ill herself and having her new baby unwell at a different hospital is but that she needs to rest and get better herself.
Q2: Sarah is still on the ward away from her newborn baby. As you walk past you can see
that the curtains around the bed space are closed and you can hear crying. No other staff are around.
What would you do?
Ask Sarah if you can come into the bed space and offer to support her. Listen to her concerns and put a plan of action in place for how her concerns can be better managed – Gain informed consent to begin with from Sarah (whilst still behind the curtains), explaining that you are here to listen and help her and enter if consent is gained. Sarah will be feeling many different emotions and frustration from not being heard which can make matters worse. Offering Sarah the opportunity to voice her concerns and then put together a plan of action can help significantly. This will also show Sarah that we are prioritising her wishes where we can, subsequently making her feel more confident and comfortable about Theo being in the care of the neonatal nurses.
Q3: Sarah calls you over and informs you that she is going to self-discharge and go to see her baby at the local hospital.
What would you do?
Explain to Sarah that it would not be in her best interests to leave the hospital at the moment due to her current medication, post-operative condition and health. Agree to have a chat with her and the ward manager about how you can facilitate more contact with Baby Theo to ensure they are bonding as much as possible – This would be the first option in this situation. Sarah’s current priority is baby Theo so we need to make it clear to her that her health needs to improve before she can leave as this would not be helping herself or baby if she were to self-discharge. Sarah may simply feel that more contact with Theo will help and therefore more facetime calls need to be arranged. It is again imperative that Sarah feels listened to throughout these difficult times.
