Parents Plan Research Articles

Teaching Patients in a Maternity Pavilion

ALTHOUGH it has been only three years since century-old Mount Sinai opened its first obstetric pavilion, it already has a many-sided educational program for patients. For example, a special program is set up for the parents of prvmature babies. Our entire ninth floor is one of the ten premature centers in the metropolitan area. We care for premature infants transferred to it from smaller New York hospitals which have no such units as well as those born at Mount Sinai. The parents are encouraged to visit daily and, when the baby is large enough to handle outside the incubator, they learn to feed, clothe, handle, and bathe it under the supervision of the nurse in charge of the unit. A special social worker helps the parents plan for the time when the infant will be taken home, and arrangements are made with the visiting nurse service so that a nurse will visit the home before the baby leaves the hospital and give advice about the physical surroundings.