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Family birthing units, also known as Single Room Maternity Care or LDRP (Labor, Delivery, recovery, post-partum) are, at present, the ultimate in maternity/obstetric care. They are designed to provide nurturing care and support, in a single room, to pregnant women and their families throughout the birth process from the beginning of labor until their discharge home. The client in this concept of care is not transferred from one area to another for their care instead equipment and personnel come to the client to provide care. All procedures deemed necessary are performed by the bedside. The baby rooms-in with the mother and family at all times and all teaching is given to the family as a unit instead of just the mother. Bonding and breastfeeding are established early and as such the family upon discharge is more confident in caring for their newborn. Nursing personnel are cross trained to provide total care and as such are better educated and primary care nursing is more effective. The main reasons these units can fail are when there is a lack of commitment from management, nursing/medical staff and from the community. Client satisfaction is found to be the highest in these types of units and hospital stays are also found to be shorter.
