mother/baby unit merging w/gyn

[megpwh]

our facility is opening a mother baby unit combined with "clean" gyn's 5 gyn's and 5 couplets on a remote area of a regular med/surg unit we will open with only 2 nurses no cna /no aide /no secretary /anyone have any experience working on a unit like this? we were just wondering about the staffing issues and the same nurse exposed to caring for gyn's and p.p.'s ???

[memphispanda, RN]

Well, the floor I just did clinicals on was combined that way, but they did have MAs and USs. It seemed to work fine...they didn't even have an OB part of the hall and GYN part of the hall...they were just all wherever there was room--this was a larger floor that what you are talking about though.

[TessRN2B, BSN, RN]

At the hospital i work at, we have one hall that is designated to labor and delivery rooms, and the other 2 are PP and GYN surg rooms. Granted, the PP rooms are much larger. We just mix them up, however, we do try to keep moms together and gyn's together mostly out of courtesy. Who want's to be recovering from surgery with a screaming newborn on the other side of the room. The whole setup works really well for us.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I have worked on a combo LDRP/GYN unit for years without benefit of an aide. It works fine and I have never heard of anyone cross-contaminating people from GYN to M/B. You will get used to it. Gyn is ok..(some days I love it, nice break from a boring routine of just PP/.labor)

BUT........they can keep you VERY busy, especially when fresh from surgery, with pain issues, vomiting and low O2 sats to deal with. That, plus, some of them are quite elderly with some health issues you have to deal with that you may not be used to in M/B. It will take time, but it will open your horizons a bit to know the "gyn side of the house". Good luck. It works ok where I am and after time, it will there, too.