Maternity Nursing Supplies

[O'NanRn]

Hello all! I am super excited! I was just offered the position to work in postpartum! I love all areas r/t ob nursing and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity! :heartbeat

So now I'm trying to get ready for my first day and I need some help from all of you professionals! What do you recommend for nursing essentials? I want to have all the supplies ready so I can be prepared. I'm talking about equipment, clothing, learning materials, etc. At my particular hospital we float to the other OB units (antepartum/ high risk, and L&D) pretty readily based on census and are trained on all of them. I would really like to have the stuff in my locker so on any given day I'll have whatever is needed.

Thank you!!!!

[klone, MSN, RN]

A stethoscope and pens are the only supplies I carry with me. Everything else I might need is there at the unit.

Interesting that they float your to L&D. How much training do they give you? Anything less than 3 months intensive training is not enough, IMO.

[O'NanRn]

thanks for your advice! They give me six months actually, it is a big hospital system and they stressed during the interview how strongly they felt a good orientation is so important. I believe they float between the maternity units because each area, although it's own area of the specailty, has at least the maternity aspect in common versus floating a nurse who is from med surg and is more familiar with TKAs and appys, at least thats the way I understand it.

[kristieRNsn2bFNP]

you may want to pick up pocket guides for quick reference...but its all information you should have learned in nursing school...

im glad you are excited...id rather have a root canal with no anesthetic than to work OB/L&D/POST PARTUM...

I HATE OB/L&D/POST PARTUM :sofahider

THATS WHY IM SOOOOOOOOOO GLAD THERE ARE NURSES LIKE YOU WHO LOVE IT!!! :w00t:

[NPinWCH]

I always made sure I had a clean warm up jacket. Women in labor LOVE the AC, even when it's freezing outside .

I also carried pens, scissors, a hemostat and breath mints since coffee breath isn't good when you're face to face helping someone breathe...of course sometimes I WISH I would have offered them to the patient . I didn't usually carry my own stethoscope because I'd had 2 "borrowed" and never returned, they're heavy to lug around and if they're around your neck they're constantly getting in the way and also we kept one in each room.

A good reference is a good idea. I'm partial to Skyscape since you get tons of info and put it on your phone or ipod touch.

Good luck and make sure you get adequate orientation to labor and delivery.

[kristieRNsn2bFNP]

breath mints since coffee breath isn't good when you're face to face helping someone breathe

FUNK BREATH IS NEVER GOOD!!!

[klone, MSN, RN]

im glad you are excited...id rather have a root canal with no anesthetic than to work OB/L&D/POST PARTUM...

I HATE OB/L&D/POST PARTUM :sofahider

THATS WHY IM SOOOOOOOOOO GLAD THERE ARE NURSES LIKE YOU WHO LOVE IT!!! :w00t:

I don't understand! How can you not??

[fitNITbr]

I don't understand! How can you not??

I can't say personally that I don't like OB, but one of my instructors once said "it's like a different kind of psych. unit" Made me laugh, and scared at the same time.

[punkydoodlesRN, BSN, RN]

I can't say personally that I don't like OB, but one of my instructors once said "it's like a different kind of psych. unit" Made me laugh, and scared at the same time.

Lol - I came from psych to ob-gyn. My hubby tells me it's the same thing!! Nope. The women on L&D/PP are only crazy a few days, then they leave and it's AT LEAST 9 months before they can return. Psych patients are long-term crazy and come back over and over

And good luck!! My hospital floats the RN's as well... they have 3 months intensive training L&D and 2 months on PP. Seem to do well. No idea about supplies though. Maybe extra set of scrubs!!

[mitchsmom]

I carry a lot of crap, YMMV:

L pocket: some kind of breath freshener, chapstick, Evo smart phone (which of course is my phone, schedule/calendar, medical spanish app, translator, flashlight, internet, drug guide, do not forget list mp3 player, radio, calculator, camera, kindle, blah blah blah... can you tell I'm pretty attached? Some of us have even started to text the MD's on occasion.

R pocket:

--scissors,

--alcohol pads,

--pen (s) (I use a 4-way clicky pen with my name taped on it, because I different colors stand for different things on my "brain"/ pt cheatsheets, i.e. red= allergies, complications; blue=do not forget; etc. (I include highlighter if I'm working lactation, because I highlight red flags on each patients cheat sheet),

--pt cheat sheet(s)

--pyxis "receipts" (I only throw away after I've charted the med)

--often an OB "wheel" although lately I just usually use one at nurses station, I need to procure a new small one :) Edit: nevermind... I just found "OB wheel" app for my phone... it seems pretty quick and I don' t have to use a magnifying glass to decipher what line the date is on

Littman Classic II SE stethoscope (it's not a fancy cardiac one, but I also hate the lightweight cheapish ones)

When I was new I made up a 3 ring binder where I put handy reference stuff inside of clear page protectors (policies, reminders, cheat sheets, all kinds of stuff I felt that I needed at first). I kept it somewhere close around the nurses station where I could refer to it. We still use several of the cheat sheets and stuff that I made up

I also had a little general quick reference book but I didn't end up using it much.

5 years later, I actually still have a notebook where I keep stuff I want as reference, new policies, staff meeting stuff, articles, handouts, or whatever in my office :)

Probably forgot something still, LOL!