ever feel a patient places too much responsibility on you

[mark_LD_RN]

i had a patient come in tonight in active labor 37.3 weeks severely preeclamptic bp 180/110. she was obviously mismanaged by her doc if she actually had one. she was traveling to visit family when this happened had no idea of proper diet ,precations,meds etc. i get her on monitor get iv started, immedieately start mag, fht look terrible decels ,variables lates, decreased variability, no accels, calls placed to ob and ped doc on call. in the middle of all this the patient tells me please dont let my baby die! this just made me feel even more stressed at the moment.

well we are a small hospital, we were extremely busy already for the staff we had available,. well to make thinks worse patient becomes complete and starts pushing baby brady down to the 50's with no recovery, scalp stimulation has no effect, had patient push hard finally delivered baby. apgars 4/7/9. baby had tight nuchal cord times 3. doc and ped make it in about 10 minutes after delivery. thank goodness every one is fine.

it was very stressful, and the family pleading with me to not let the baby die just about over whelmed me at the moment. what a way to top off a already busy night. anyone else ever feel this way?

[obtnt]

Dear sisters,

These posts are soooo true to my career in L&D!! I just wish that those nurses who have said to me, upon finding out I was in OB, "Oh, you aren't a real nurse, you just ROCK babies"!!!!! could spend a few of these shifts with us! Also, I recently was told my old unit, has lost all of their experienced RN's due to administration's lack of support. It seems a certain MD (specialist), has decided to traumatize and harrass everyone and he has made it unbearable to stay. Now, this unit is extremely high risk, extremely busy, and now in addition to the stress of the job, there are no experienced nurses!! What would Mark have done if he had not known to cut the nuchal cord on his pt? The hospital will not censor or reprimand this dr. because he brings in big bucks for the hospital. I'm glad it's not me working there or especially me being a pt there. God help us all!! OB is definately an emotional roller coaster and we need all the support we can get.

[imenid37]

mark you did a great job. i have had a recurring nightmare very similar to your actual experience. scary enough when it is just a dream, i wouldn't have wanted to live it! about a year ago i had a skinny gal w/ no prenatal care walk in fully dilated and when i asked her how pregnant she thought she was, she said ABOUT 6 MONTHS! her belly was teenie tiny and it wasn't hard to believe this could be accurate. i got ob and peds there in time for the delivery. thank god! she c/o'd about her care after delivery because we made her suffer ( all 10 minutes we had her before delivery) and would not give her pain meds! she told her visitors she knew we were lying and were just NASTY because we could've given her something. her baby was about 35 weeks gestation and did just fine. i thought i was nervous until ped told me he drove in at about 75 mph hoping it was all a dream and running over in his mind all the doses for the nrp meds! i think nurses in hospitals w/ in house drs. don't appreciate the stresses we have in our little community hospitals! god bless you. you are a real "superman" in my book!

[mark_LD_RN]

THANKS! imendid37

being in a small hospital does have its challenges

[mother/babyRN, RN]

It is tough Mark and I have felt that way myself. If a patient says something similar to me, I just hold on to them tight and tell them we will do everything we can. That is all you CAN do Mark. You can only be yourself and the best nurse and person you can be. I will tell them we won't let anything happen to them. I never promise that I can do the impossible, only that I will do the best I can to help them. To promise any more or expect any less just wouldn't be you. The fact that she felt so trustful with you and for you I hope enhances your feelings of being a good nurse and one with remarkable and enviable rapport with his patient....Kudos to you Mark....

[mother/babyRN, RN]

Hey Mark, I should mention that I had a complete previa, severe toxemia bordering on seizure activity AND was given an antibiotic to which I had an anaphylactic reaction. During that episode I was thinking but could not speak, "Turn off the PCA, give me epinephrine!" Doc gave me some benadryl and I prepared to die, attempting in the same breath to breathe AND memorize the face of my hours old baby post c/s...Guess what I remember to this day as being the single, most poignant thing? Two nurses, both friends of mine, who came in and gave me a complete, warm bed bath, lovingly and taking time. THAT is what I remember...Both of them, loving me and worried....I remember that as my most special memory of a horrific ocasion. Basic nursing and wonderful nurses who just KNOW what you need in one moment in time,are what makes nursing so special and so vital....YOU are one of those nurses Mark. I can tell. Keep it up.....

[mark_LD_RN]

THANKS MOTHER BABY, i try to do the best i can for them no matter what. I never let them see the stress that some situations put on me as i think it would just burden them to much. thanks for the support and the awesome compliment from you,:)

[happystar]

Is being a OB and being a midwife the same? Because, if it is, it's certainly freaking me out. I'm currently in my last year of high school and in teh process of deciding my future career. Midwifery is probably the top of my list. So tell me, OBs, is it really that stressful? Do you need to be more skilled than the average RN? Do you earn more than the average Rn? Also, in dealing with emergencies, is it something you would have learnt at nursing school...to be honest, i'm a little stress about stressful situations such as the ones mentioned above. I'm really interested in childbirth but not sure if i can handle it...

[mark_LD_RN]

hi happystar,

don't let everything here scare you. follow your heart and do what you like. being a a GOOD OB nurse requires a lot of skill and compassion, not all of which you will have learned in nursing school. it can be really stressful at times but it can also be wonderful, i absolutely love my job. OB nurses don't really make more than other floor nurses as a whole. being a midwife is different from an OB nurses, they usually work in conjuntion with a OB/GYN doctor and deliver low risk moms. they make more money usually than ob nurses do. I am currently working on becoming a nurse midwife myself.hope this helps you out some.

[mother/babyRN, RN]

AS Mark said, EVERY nurse has scary moments. Midwifery is a whold different ballgame, in some instances, than being an OB nurse. Probably a great idea to become a nurse, try out OB and then go into it if thats what you still think you want. ALL areas of nursing are scary and super stressful at times. We can all talk about OB here because we can relate to each other and our experiences. ANY nursing field you go into can be specialized. The scary, stressful moments are STILL outweighed by the positive ones. It isn't all about just delivering babies. Sometimes you have to travel a rough journey on your way to helping them arrive safely. Good luck to you....