Question

Discussion Topic: What are the responsibilities of nurses and the nursing profession to ensure that the timing of discharge is appropriate and safe for each postpartum woman and her baby?

Answer 1

The responsibility of the nurses and nursing profession to ensure that the timing of discharge is appropriate and safe for each postpartum woman and her baby are because

• Each woman are unique and their postpartum adjustment to new responsibility ,acceptance are different
• Before the discharge the mother should have been done a post natal examination for physical fitness to leave the facility which keeps them under supervision
• Ensure the mothers surgical or personal wounds are healthy with no complications before discharge
• The mother should be trained and be used to the breastfeeding techniques and its importance before discharge
• The baby should have been administered the birth vaccines like hepatitis B, OPV ,BCG
• To assess whether the mother suffers any postnatal depression or not
• Being health educated on the diet, exercise ,feeding ,medication ,social relationship, follow up ,immunization visits, etc., before discharge
• Development of jaundice physiological or pathological can be expected in baby after birth, so it has to be assessed before discharge
• The mother who are primi starts good milk flow either after second or third day so discharging time plays a key role to observe the patient prior to that

They need a close observation in the first 24 hours to monitor for the health issues. Certain family ,culture has a belief of discharging at specific timing .