Keeping Mothers Together With Their Babies Requiring Neonatal Intensive Care During the Birth Hospitalization: An Innovative Model of Care.

Background: Keeping mothers and babies together after birth has long been described as best practice; however, most organizations in the United States move newborns requiring a higher level of care to a different unit in the hospital. The leadership team at a level II, four-bed neonatal intensive care unit in a community hospital averaging 1,400 births per year recognized an opportunity to potentially improve the care for maternity patients and their families.

Intervention: Instead of high-risk newborns being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit while their mothers were on the postpartum unit, an innovative model applied the concepts of rooming-in and couplet care in a new way, keeping mothers and their babies that need a higher level of care together.

Keeping Cool When Things Heat Up During a Malignant Hyperthermia Crisis.

This article describes the experience of a health care team at a maternity center during their care for a woman exhibiting an atypical presentation of malignant hyperthermia and outlines the steps taken to rapidly identify the condition and begin treatment to save her life. Key components in ensuring a positive outcome in a malignant hyperthermia crisis include increased awareness and readiness to effectively treat and reverse the signs and symptoms of this condition.