“Catch Nurse” pulled from OB/Gyn unit

[CWRN]

I am interested in thoughts on Couplet, GYN and Antepartum with occasional Med-surg overflow nurses leaving the unit/pt assignment to go act as “catch nurse” on L&D unit, then returning to Couplet/Gyn unit to resume care of original assignment.

We have been told that we will begin training for this role:

Mother Baby being cross-trained to do Newborn Admissions or “catch babies”.

“currently working with the NICU staff to develop an appropriate competency checklist (ISCA) so that we can begin this process in the very near future. Please know this will not require any additional work hours from you.”

Any thoughts regarding the forced training during a work shift? Any other postpartum/Gyn unit nurses have to leave the floor during shift to go “catch babies”? Who are the “catch nurses” at your deliveries?

Thank you in advance for your input.

[klone, MSN, RN]

My first question would be, how many deliveries does your facility do a month/year?

Who would be looking after your patient load while you're being the baby catcher?

At the facility where we didn't do a lot of births (1,000/year), the charge nurse was baby catcher. At the facility where I am now, where we do 3,000 births/year, we have a person who is designated in that role for the shift.

I don't think there's anything wrong with training/cross-training nurses into the "baby catcher" role (interesting that you used the term "forced training" - additional on-the-job training should not be seen as "forced" but, rather, should be embraced as a GOOD thing). My biggest issue is with the idea that this nurse has a full patient assignment that she has to abandon when she has to go catch a baby.

[CWRN]

Thank you for your response. We have approx 1200 deliveries per year. A few of the other PP/GYN staff have suggested amongst ourselves that this might be a role the charge nurse could assist with. Just trying to get an idea of how some other smaller facilities handle their deliveries.
Yes, I did use the term “forced”, mainly because we will be forced to leave our assignment/pt load, go to L&D for the delivery and then return to our pts on Postpartum/Gyn unit. This is why we feel it is “forced”. I don’t feel like any nurse wants to leave their pt load on a routine basis to go to deliveries. This not only will be stressing the “catch nurse”, the nurse who is left to take care of 2 pt loads, but most importantly, we fear pt attention/care will suffer greatly. I used the term forced Bc it is not something any of us want to be pulled throughout the shift to go do and then come back and try to play catch up with all of our originally assigned pts. In addition, this is the circumstances in which we will be trained. We will not get isolated training days/hours. We will be pulled from our assignments to go train for these deliveries. I’m truly concerned for my patients and my license. Again thank you for any input! We are just trying to gain understanding and input from others who have maybe gone through the same experience.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Can you explain exactly what the plan is for your patient assignment when you leave to go catch a baby?

[CWRN]

The actual plan has not been shared as of yet. 2 night shift and 2 day shift nurses were told via email that they were chosen to begin training and to “please know that this will not require any additional work hours from you”. Two or 3 nurses are regularly scheduled for PP/Gyn unit sometimes we require only 1 nurse and others we need 4 nurses. We can only imagine that the other nurse(s) left on the PP/Gyn unit will be responsible for both the catch nurse’s pts in addition to her own.
I am sorry. We haven’t been given any additional info other than that we will be trained during our regular scheduled work shift to train as catch nurses. We are just trying to gather information to maybe help our Director see our concerns and maybe offer an alternative solution.
Thus far the only alternative we have is charge nurse step in.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Without knowing what the actual plan is, I'm going to reserve judgment. I do not at all oppose the idea of training mom/baby nurses to be a "baby catcher" - any additional training/experience/exposure to NRP will only strengthen your skills as a nurse.

[CWRN]

Thank you for your help! We switched to couplet care in August of last year. I feel like we have all adjusted to this change very well!! I agree continued education and use of skills are always a plus!! My greatest concern is being pulled from my assignment, however temporarily, to go perform this new role. We shall see how it all pans out in the very near future.
Thank you!!