An Innovative Approach to Transition Newborns at the Bedside With a Neonatal Transition Nurse

Abstract

Proposed Change Following the transition from a segregated newborn nursery to mother–baby couplet care, labor & delivery nurses trained for well-baby care functioned as baby advocates for initial newborn care. Before this program, NICU admissions for transitional care were frequent with subsequent separation of newborns from mothers, lack of skin-to-skin contact, and decreased breast feeding rates. To prevent separation, improve breastfeeding rates, and prevent the cost and stress of a NICU admission, the NTN role was created from the labor and delivery cost center.