Visiting maternity nurses
Hungary is the only country in Europe where a well-organised system of visiting maternity nurses (called ‘védőnő’) supports pregnant women and families with children – that is why this institution was awarded the Hungarian Heritage Prize.
Visiting maternity nurses - whose job is regulated by legal provisions, as well as professional and methodological guidelines - work independently on a special border area where they collaborate with the representatives of different, related health services. They work in basic care within their own districts and in schools of different levels in the field of prevention, but they take part also in basic social care and child protection.
The goal of the visiting maternity nurse’s work is to protect the health of families and to prevent the deterioration of human health. The scope of the visiting nurse’s care tasks covers women’s protection, care of pregnant and child-bearing women as well as children of 0–16 years of age.
Women’s protection:
Each year we organize a gynaecological cancer screening within the framework of the Health Protection Week. We welcome every woman who wants to do something for her health. During our reception ours we handle issues related to positive and negative family planning. We assist couples planning to have children with lifestyle advice so that they would have healthy babies.
Please contact us if you need an appointment outside of our regular reception hours.
Care for pregnant women:
Pregnant ladies should be registered with the visiting maternity nurse service around week 10, before the ultra-sound examination due in week 12. The care service consists of a monthly counselling that includes weight measurement, urine analysis and blood pressure measurement, and from week 28 on we also examine the heart rate of the foetus. We document and discuss medical records, and if necessary, we consult with the patient’s GP. Expert medical maternity counselling in Szeged is due 5 times during the pregnancy: this is where referrals to blood tests and certificates (for maternity tax exemption and maternity benefit payments) are obtained. In the last month there is a weekly CTG examination as well.
When visiting families, the nurses advise the pregnant ladies on how to set up the right conditions for the birth of a child, and they prepare the whole family for the reception of the new-born baby.
Baby and child health care:
After leaving the maternity ward, child-bearing and nursing mothers are visited in their homes within 48 hours. Feeding the baby with mother’s milk is very important, because mother’s milk is a unique, wonderful nourishment that adapts to the baby’s changing needs. It promotes ideal development, serves as a long-term foundation for a good quality of life, and it also deepens a profound bond between mother and child. The wonder of the breast-feeding period will never again return into the mother and child’s life, therefore we recommend that you breast-feed your baby for a long time.
Supplementing mother’s milk is recommended from the 4th month on, beginning first with fruit (apples, preaches), then gradually adding vegetables (potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, red beet, lettuce, spinach, pumpkin, zucchini) and from the 5th–6th month adding also meat (chicken, chicken liver, turkey) and a little oil. We definitely do not recommend feeding the baby milk or milk products before the age of 10 months because of the risk of allergy. You may read more about baby nutrition on the following sites:
• http://www.lll.hu/szoptatos_fuzet2011
• http:/www.miluklub.hu/nutricheq
It is very important to prepare the baby’s food with water of tested quality. In the first 2 years the child may not drink the water of any drill well because of the water’s potential nitrite content. You may take arsenic-free water every day from 8 to 12 am from the blue container located between the Veterinary Practice and the market (Napos Piac).
The nurses regularly visit families with children under the age of 6 to advise the parents on how to establish a harmonious parent-child relationship, on a balanced style of life and a healthy diet, and they assist the child’s raising and socialization.
During the counselling occasions we monitor the child’s physical development (we measure height and weight). Status examinations are focused on the child’s psychic, motoric, mental and social development, examining also its hearing, vision and locomotor functions, therefore these examinations are very important.
Babies’ examinations take place at the age of 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, and later on once around the time of each anniversary (at the age of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 years). The status examinations at age 1, 3 and 6 include a mandatory ophthalmological screening carried out by a paediatric ophthalmologist.
Vaccinations are given during counselling with a doctor.
Mandatory vaccinations:
BCG in week 0 to 4, in an obstetric institute
DTPa+IPV+Hib in the 2nd month
DTPa+IPV+Hib in the 3rd month
DTPa+IPV+Hib in the 4th month
MMR in the 15th month
DTPa+IPV+Hib in the 18th month
DTPa+IPV in the 6th year
Voluntary free-of-charge vaccinations:
Prevenar in the 2nd month
Prevenar in the 4th month
Prevenar in the 15th month
Health care in the schools:
As for children aged 6–16, visiting nurses are responsible for duly detecting factors that may constitute a threat to children’s development. Screenings are carried out in every second form of grammar school (in forms 2, 4, 6 and 8), including the measurement of body weight and height, blood pressure, vision acuity and colour vision, and a locomotor examination. The school doctor is notified of any irregularity. Parents are kindly asked to return any medical record received from the doctor to our office, because everything needs to be documented on the children’s school health care registry sheet.
We check cleanliness and potential lice contamination each September, January and April, and whenever parents notify us of any detected case.
School campaign vaccinations:
MMR re-vaccination in class 6
dTap in class 6
Hepatitis B I-II in class 7
Child protection:
We closely co-operate with the family protection and child welfare services as well as with the guardianship authority. If necessary we make proposals to take a child into care.
We discuss problematic cases and pay joint visits to families in need to support them raising their children.
A district visiting nurse has manifold tasks. In fact she takes care of the whole family.
This is one of the professions that can be exercised only with a deep calling. We would like to encourage you to have confidence in us, because we will do our best to assist you in every situation according to the best of our knowledge.
Finally, let us share the following thoughts with you:
If I had my child to raise over again,
I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting, and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less, and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging, and less tugging.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd teach less about the love of power,
And more about the power of love.
(Diana Loomans)
Visiting Maternity Nursing Services of Üllés
District I
Area: Kölcsey F. u., Wesselény u., Székely u., Erdélyi u., Fehérvári u., Fogarasi u. Radnai u., Bem J. u., Petőfi S. u., Arany u., Jókai u., Makarenkó u., Szent Margit u., Ruzsai u., Kis u., Napos u., Vásártér u., Víztorony u., Petőfi dűlő, Árpád dűlő, Rózsa dűlő
Maternity visiting nurse’s reception hours:
- Mo 8:00–9:00
- Tue 8:00–9:00
Independent visiting maternity nurse’s counselling:
- Babies Wed 8:00–10:00
- Pregnant ladies Thu 8:00–10:00
School health care services:
- Fri 8:00–11:00
Visiting maternity nurse:
- Ilona Kiss
- Telephone: +36 30 506 2683
- E-mail: vedono1@ulles.hu
District II
Area: Huszár u., Dózsa György u., Erkel Ferenc u., Móra Ferenc u., Olajos u., Széchenyi u., Kossuth dűlő
Maternity visiting nurse’s reception hours:
- We 8:00–9:00
Independent visiting maternity nurse’s counselling:
- Babies Mo 10:00–12:00
- Pregnant ladies Mo 8:00–10:00
School health care services:
- Fri 8:00–11:00
Visiting maternity nurse:
- Éva Lajkóné Lovai
- Telephone: +36 30 506 2683
- E-mail: vedono2@ulles.hu