Looks like a neat hospital to work at...Where is this hospital located at? Somewhere's back east, me thinks...right?

Just out side of the other "washington" the DC one

Yeah, thought so....The head nurse has that New Yaork accent...

Interesting, especially the bit about security - checking people in and out of the maternity area. I can understand why of course, but I do not know of any hospital where that is enforced in this part of the world.

I recall 2 cases where non relatives, walked out of the hospital with newborns...and the furer afterward it caused....

I know that is the reason for the security, on rare occasions it happens here too but the security in hospitals where I work is achieved by advising mothers not to leave their babies unattended, to return them to the nursery if they are leaving the ward.

And do you keep your new mothers in the hospital a few days, to let them get rested and accustomed to the routine of bathing, nursing, etc??

That's the way things were when I had my three. I stayed five or six days each time. That was the best vacation I could have asked for!

Nowadays my daughter and my daughter-in-law have been discharged from the hospital when the babies were only 2.5 days old. Hardly enough time for the mother to gain back a little bit of strength, and absolutely not time enough to begin to learn lactation techniques, since milk doesn't come in till the third day.

This is what happens when insurance companies take over management of medical care.

I am thankful that so far the HMO type of healthcare is not paramount here. When I was an intern I can remember one of the oldfashioned doctors kept his patients in bed for many days....thankfully that time has gone.
Length of stay here varies, some of the larger public hospitals with a lot of pressure on beds will get the ladies out by day 3 if possible, though they do have a home visitation program to support some. My patients in the private hospital would stay 3 to 5 days for a normal delivery, maybe a day longer for a C-section - unless there are other problems. The hospital has midwives trained as lactation consultants, and they help establish the feeding routines.

Thanks, Nan.

Fortunately, no one in my family uses HMO insurance. The alternative is PPO (Preferred Provider Option) in which the patient can go to any doctor of his choice. And all my grandbabies have been born at the best hospitals in their respective cities, with wonderful Board-certified Ob-Gyn's attending.

BUT, the problem still remains: All insurance plans (whether HMO , PPO or Medicare) now limit the number of days for hospital stay, according to their boilerplate checklist of average days required.

This results in great revenue for the insurance companies, but takes away from the doctor any flexibility in fitting the treatment to the individual patient's needs.

I hope when Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama becomes President of the U.S. this regulation by insurance companies can become a thing of the past. But I'm not holding my breath.