What is your hospital policy and/or your preference and rationale for allowing the husband or family member to stand infront of the mom, supporting her or "hugging" her, as she is receiving her epidural?
I have heard of a case where the husband was holding his wife during the procedure, fainted and hit his head and died!! (i believe this was a Kaiser case in california, dont know the exact details but this is the base of the story).The family then sued (GO FIGURE!) the hospital for negligence in using him as staff in supporting his wife during the procedure. As a CRNA, im very concerned about this as my new job allows the husband to hold the wife, and of course my last job did not! What is going on at your facility? Thanks in advance!
Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.
Holding hands seems fine. But what happens if mum moves while dad is holding her in position? I guess you are already taking responsibility for ensuring the insertion of the catheter is correct, so I wouldn't want an extra factor like that to place my registration at risk.
Dad isn't holding her in postition. The nurse doesn't hold her still or anything when the catheter is being inserted. The woman is still perfectly capable of moving.
Yeah my fiance held me during my epidural. He made it through the procedure, but then he had to sit down immediately. I can understand why a CRNA could be worried about a suit. Being that everybody sues these days. However, as a pt. I was comforted by my fiance being able to physically support me.
The father is usually not holding the patient in position, he is just giving her support. The important thing is to keep an eye on him. If he starts looking pale, get to him before he falls over. I rarely have Dad's pass out, but sometimes I have. If he hasn't eaten recently (often the case as I work night shift), I try to get him to drink some juice or eat some crackers. I give him the line about the only ones who kiss the carpet are the ones too macho to eat anything. I never had many faint, but after I started insisting on him eating something, I had even less. I usually notice if one is about to go out on me and get them seated before they hit the floor. In 38 years, I've had less than a dozen get faint and no one was injured. They're adults, we sometimes forget to treat them that way
On occasion we do have the labor partners stand in front of the moms. I guess the way I see it, if it were me I'd like to have my husband in front of me rather than the nurse. Women can move whether or not a nurse is holding them. Just recently though I had the anesthesiologist ask the entire family to leave. Maybe he heard about the suit...
So, if this man passed out and dies during an epidural placement would he pass out during the delivery? There's no way to know but I'm thinking it's a big possibility and if he passes out and dies during the second stage of labor is it the hospitals fault? What's it going to come to, not allowing anyone in the room because of liability??
We had a guy pass out during a delivery one day and literally fall right into the laboring nurse. So then he's passed out on the floor, the nurse is injured and the mom is crowning, what a nightmare!!
Recently with the advent of our "wonderful" computer charting process, I've had a support person temporarily lend support during epidural placement. Since we have to chart a "time out" for the epidural, have to chart the start, the needle insertion, the test dose and all kinds of other stuff, AND since I'm the only RN in the room, how can you do this? Reaching the computer even IF it's on the same side of the bed as you are is impossible. So doubly impossible if it's on the opposite side of the bed.
More and more, I'm thinking we need a scribe for procedures such as epidurals, especially for C/sections, just so the charting can get done. My BIL is an eye surgeon and he complains about how much time the circulating nurses have to spend at the computer instead of doing their intended job.
The rocket scientist who decided computer charting was going to solve all kinds of problems, solved none of them and created so many more.
Recently with the advent of our "wonderful" computer charting process, I've had a support person temporarily lend support during epidural placement. Since we have to chart a "time out" for the epidural, have to chart the start, the needle insertion, the test dose and all kinds of other stuff, AND since I'm the only RN in the room, how can you do this? Reaching the computer even IF it's on the same side of the bed as you are is impossible. So doubly impossible if it's on the opposite side of the bed.
More and more, I'm thinking we need a scribe for procedures such as epidurals, especially for C/sections, just so the charting can get done. My BIL is an eye surgeon and he complains about how much time the circulating nurses have to spend at the computer instead of doing their intended job.
The rocket scientist who decided computer charting was going to solve all kinds of problems, solved none of them and created so many more.
We don't have computer charting . . . . I use a paper towel for all of the above.
This is why I dread going to computer charting!! I'm thinking we use more paper towels for charting than anything else. And some nice 2 in tape on the pants is a great place for charting too LOL... As long as it gets to the permanent record I feel like I'm doing pretty good!!
I think for safety reasons RN should be supporting patient. At the minimum as soon as test dose is administered you should be in front of patient, supporting family member to the side.
I have had one patient during my career have a seizure with the test dose, and another just last week become dangerously hypotensive after the test dose.
While it is the birth of a baby, if you are getting an epidural this is a significant medical procedure.
I use "personal stationary"... aka my scrub pants when I have to chart during procedures.
nyapa, RN
995 Posts
Holding hands seems fine. But what happens if mum moves while dad is holding her in position? I guess you are already taking responsibility for ensuring the insertion of the catheter is correct, so I wouldn't want an extra factor like that to place my registration at risk.