questioning postpartum nursing?

klone, MSN, RN · Jun 17, 2011

in respect to all you post partum nurses, could you please tell me if you use "BUBBLE" and the REEDA scale for assessing and documenting on your moms? I am working on changing our documentation and see the above referred to in text books but would like to know if indeed it is used in hospital documentation records.

Never heard of either of those things.

nuts4mymutts · Apr 17, 2012

Oh wow! This is a conversation I have in my own mind many, many times. I also am "just" a post partum nurse and have been for the past 8 years. I never planned on this, it just happened. I earned my BSN last year, and was actually ridiculed by my fellow students for this. The truth is, no one has the right to tell anyone they are less than others for their career choice. I have been a wonderful nurse and spend my days educating and encouraging new parents...what is so horrible with this???? I know what normal looks like and have intervened on many occasions when normal was just beginning to go bad. I am proud of myself for being the best post partum nurse in my hospital and encourage you to also do the same. Question: do healthy people need less care? Do I have to be an ICU or ED nurse to be respectable? NO!!

I am coming to terms with the choices I have made, and in the end, the joke is on those who work in horribly stressful and overwhelming specialties that do not suit them, only for the "glory" of their title.

Queen2u · Apr 18, 2012

I am a mother-baby nurse and have been for 2 years, and let me tell you, THERE IS NO PLACE ELSE I WOULD RATHER WORK!!!!! We ARE nurses! In ONE WEEK, I had nurses in another department send over 3 patients to our unit who nearly bled to death immediately after transfer...that is a topic within itself. Anyway, if these patients went straight home after delivery and did not come to mother-baby to be cared for, educated, supported and monitored, they absolutely would have DIED!!! So yes, we are real nurses!!! When nurses from other departments put mother-baby nurses down, I know that it's an effort on their part to make them feel better about themselves. At the end of the day, when I think about nurses who take care of critically ill patients on the verge of death, needing machines and medications to keep them alive, I would rather be the nurse who works in a happy environment. Lots of nurses who take care of the critically ill go home depressed after work; I go home smiling! And to top it all off, we earn the same pay!

Nurse2b7337 · Apr 19, 2012

Awesome ladies!!! I agree with you completely didn't you all sit for the same NCLEX exam????? Keep on doing what you're doing!!

ercastro2 · Apr 19, 2012

As a new grad nurse I had many many nurses tell me I should not start in L&D or PP, because I would be stuck there. I decided to do my last semester in Peds Cardiology and guess what I've been placed in a category that won't allow me to apply to other units. Recruiters see my resume and say sorry we don't have a Peds Cardio floor.

The sad truth is I would love to do L&D/PP and some day want to be a Midwife... in the mean time I will have to do the work on a different floor unless someone gives me an opportunity to show what a dedicated OBGYN/MomBaby nurse I can be.

Also I had nurse I work with tell me that if you start in any RN job you become specialized in it and if/when you want to transfer to an other unit you still need to go through a training program to learn that new floor. I think the most important thing is to be happy in what it is your are doing and not worry what others think of it!

:)

busymommy · Apr 25, 2012

First of all, I love your handle, nuts4mymutts! :yeah:

I just had a conversation about this with my advisor yesterday, and told her the idea of "having" to work in med-surg makes me so sad :sniff: when all I've ever wanted is to be a postpartum nurse. I was fortunate to have excellent experiences when I had my babies and those RNs continue to be a HUGE inspiration to me.

I agree with you - healthy people need our care just as much as sick people, and being a postpartum nurse does not make us less respectable. I've been thinking lately that I should just go right into med surg and not even try to find a job where my passions lie, but I've switched my thinking. I'm going to go for what I really want, and let God take care of the rest.

Thanks for encouraging a student who's almost done! I hope I get to work with other nurses who share your attitude :loveya:

33-weeker · Apr 30, 2012

I'd like to add to this, as a neonatal nurse of 20 years, that thinking of PP patients as 'healthy' is painting them all with the same brush, and potentially dangerous. Yes. It's true. Most of them are young and healthy, but even those can turn into an ICU case at any time.

New moms frequently faint, so they are an even a bigger fall risk that first time to the bathroom than the elderly. They can bleed out faster than you can say 'post partum hemorrhage.' They can have seizures, too, that compromise both them and baby. Not only that, many have chronic health issues like diabetes that must be monitored an cared for. Maybe choosing PP/FBC does limit your career options, but--just like newborn nursery--if you think it's all fun and games and easy, healthy patients, think again.

danceluver · Apr 30, 2012

How hard is it to get a job in PP or MBU as a new grad? Easier maybe then LD?

I would love working in a unit like this because I like to educate and instruct and help. Those are my personal strengths. I like to have conversations with my patients :)

Sangrita RN · May 1, 2012

I've been out of nursing school since August 2011. I know I'm being picky but I'm holding out for a position in postpartum or at least OB. I know it's exactly what I want to do and I feel pathetic sometimes working as a CNA with a nursing license but I can't bring myself to apply to too many med-surg positions. Am I crazy? Haha. Most of my classmates are having difficulty getting into any area.

mnturner · May 2, 2012

I am a mother-baby nurse and have been for 2 years, and let me tell you, THERE IS NO PLACE ELSE I WOULD RATHER WORK!!!!! We ARE nurses! In ONE WEEK, I had nurses in another department send over 3 patients to our unit who nearly bled to death immediately after transfer...that is a topic within itself. Anyway, if these patients went straight home after delivery and did not come to mother-baby to be cared for, educated, supported and monitored, they absolutely would have DIED!!! So yes, we are real nurses!!! When nurses from other departments put mother-baby nurses down, I know that it's an effort on their part to make them feel better about themselves. At the end of the day, when I think about nurses who take care of critically ill patients on the verge of death, needing machines and medications to keep them alive, I would rather be the nurse who works in a happy environment. Lots of nurses who take care of the critically ill go home depressed after work; I go home smiling! And to top it all off, we earn the same pay!

Amen !!!!!

33-weeker · May 7, 2012

I'm sure things have changed since I graduated in '91, but the way I got into a specialty area right out of school was going through an 'acute care women's health residency' that consisted of classroom and clinical rotations through areas like L&D, PP, Nursery I & II, Antepartum, Gyn, etc... Those of us who passed (there were some tests, but I don't think anyone failed) interviewed for the places we wanted to work and were hired into the various areas with a 2-year committment in exchange for the program. Except for taking a 10 mo. break doing Gyn (to get the shift I needed), I've worked in nursery ever since.