July 1, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — ¿Ha bañado a su bebé? When asking if new moms know how to bathe their babies, it is important that language barriers do not get in the way. That is why nurses with the UAB Division of Women’s and Infants’ Services are using a $13,000 grant from the March of Dimes to increase their ability to communicate with Hispanic families about mother and newborn care.

Part of the grant will allow the division to offer its Mother/Baby Discharge Class in Spanish. Funds will be used to translate the curriculum and class materials, hire instructors who speak Spanish, and teach them how to conduct the class. The course, which has been taught in English by registered nurses from the hospital’s postpartum unit to nearly 300 families, covers basic essentials for moms when they return home with their newborn. Topics range from the most basic, such as the baby bath and maternal nutrition, to more complex topics such as stimulating baby’s brain development and how to recognize signs and symptoms of postpartum depression.

“As nurses, it is our responsibility to make sure all of our patients are armed with the information they need to provide the best care to their newborn babies and themselves,” Freda Centor, R.N., M.S., coordinator of the grant, said. “Currently, in our daily patient census on our 22-bed postpartum unit, we have anywhere from 3 to 10 mothers who are non-English speaking, and the vast majority of those are Hispanic. We just feel these messages and instruction are too important to let language get in the way.”

A second part of the project will be the initiation of a program to teach nurses in the division basic Spanish in order to improve communication during patient’s hospital stay. Funds will be used to send 10 registered nurses through the series “Spanish for Health Care Workers” offered by the UAB Special Studies program. In addition, the division will implement a Spanish Phrase of the Week program to further enhance communication.