[nankie]

At my hospital, way back when, NST's were done in Labor & Delivery. For many years now we've had a separate unit - Perinatal Testing - that was just down the hall from L&D - that was solely dedicated to NST's and AFI's during normal business hours (occasionally PTL, early labor, or other observation patients are seen when L&D is busy) . Off hours patients still go to L&D. Myself and one other RN staff this unit.

Now they want to move us to a different part of the hospital, several floors away from L&D. We are not happy! We are concerned about the logistics of transferring pts. in urgent situations, sharing the ultrasound with L&D, having to do AFI's, and the occasional VE, sterile spec, etc. on pt's in recliner chairs - because the new rooms we are moving to are former offices and do not have enough room for beds. They do not even have sinks! We will have to use waterless gels. Is that acceptable for a pt care area?

One more question. How do you handle docs reading the NST? We fax our report and the NST to the doctor's office on the day of the test, if WNL - if abnormal we call them at the time of the test before sending the pt home. They are then supposed to read test, sign and fax it back to us within 24 hours. This being the real world, however, many of the pts are delivered before the doc ever signs the test, if then! I sometimes worry about legal liability if we should miss something.

Anyway, just very curious how it is done at other hospitals. Thanks for any input.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Where I am, we are an LDRP so we do all NSTs in our LDRP rooms and report the findings to the Dr. via telephone. Then we place the paperwork in a basket where the MDs must review and sign off on the strips( that they have reviewed them), prior to their being sent to medical records.

[Elvish]

Depends. If pt is in L/D, the NSTs are done there or in triage (if they haven't yet been admitted to L/D). Docs read them there & sign off. If they are a stable antepartum that has been admitted to the OB/GYN/Ante floor, we run the strips there, call the docs if anything looks funky, & they come look at them then. If it is an ok strip, we just place it in the basket for MD review, then they sign it off at their convenience. Some of the private docs like their NSTs put in the pt chart & not the basket.

[nankie]

Thank you very much for the replies.

But does anyone here work in a hospital that has a dedicated unit solely for Antepartum Testing?