[nrsnan_1]

Iwork in L&D and NBN in a small community hospital. Our policy regarding staffing is based on the AWHONN standards for nurse-patient ratio. At this community hospital, I may have only two active labor patients on a good day but along with the direct patient care I also answer phones, enter lab requests into the computer, draw the specimens and sometimes run them to lab, put the chart together, assess all outpatients, complete 5 different reports for various administrative people and do all direct patient care. I am just curious if other facilities follow the same guidelines and how staff is utilized and what ancillary staff is there to support. I am also curious if the AWHONN Standards are reflective of the clerical/ancillary role of many nurses.