Axe maternity, add emergency

NurseFirst · Mar 31, 2005

adrenalin junkie, eh?

i am an emt-b, former paramedic (when johnny & roy were on tv, the first time) and second year nursing student.

nursing is related to hospitalization. to compare, for instance, medical assistants do not do bedside nursing. emergency care (i.e., inline stabilization) is done outside the hospital, in general. just because neck injuries are the number one cause of death in young people doesn't mean they are the number one cause of death in young people who are hospitalized, eh? maternity is something that happens inside the hospital. yes, emergencies occur on all units. that's why healthcare workers have to learn cpr at the healthprovider level; you make an interesting point, though: maybe inline stabilization should be covered in cpr classes--not just jaw-thrust (though it is certainly strongly suggested). however, the particular kinds of emergencies are, generally, unique to those units, eh? and, at least in my training, that's where they are covered in our theory classes. i will tell you this: there are certain kinds of emergencies i learned about in nursing i never learned in either my emt or my paramedic classes--in particular, i'm thinking of autonomic dysreflexia.

i'm also thinking--since i am considering doing a preceptorship in a rural area--that in rural areas you don't have so much specialization. ob would be one of the situations that a nurse "generalist" can be expected to know how to handle.

just my :twocents:

nursefirst

i don't know what schools required when most of you got your degrees, but it seems like most bsn programs (i think 2 yr as well) require you to take certain core classes. they reflect the information needed to pass the nclex. almost every program requires: foundations, med-surg/adult health, peds, mental health, health promotion and maternity/childbearing. my question is, why are we required to take maternity when it seems like a very specific specialty? maybe i'm biased, but why is it even on the nclex? do you think it's political? it really doesn't make any sense when you look at the other classes. you will always need a basic foundation, most of the patients are adults/med surg, no matter where you work you will have patients with dual mental health problems (depression, anxiety, bi-polar ect). peds is a little more specialized, but kids still make up a great deal of the population of patients and can be seen in every area of care.
why maternity?
all the basic information a non-maternity nurse has to know about emergency care for a pregant woman/newborn, contraceptives and lady partsl infections/sti's can be easily included in other classes. for the most part, if a pregant woman comes into the hospital with a problem she will be put on the maternity/special care unit. is it really necessary that every nurse knows that the left fingernail of the fetus developes after x amount of days or that the uterus should be 2 cm below the umbilicus 24 hrs after birth?
wouldn't it be better to replace maternity with emergency nursing? no matter what unit you work in, who you work for, where you go in your personal life or what population of people you work with you will need to know how to handle emergencies. i used to be an emt and find it disturbing that some nurses don't even understand the concept of in-line stabilization after a fall/accident (#1 cause of death in younger population) because they're too busy trying to decide which side is the dirty side of the placenta or how much bleeding is normal after a c-section. what do you all think about this?

grimmy, RN · Apr 1, 2005

when i was in nursing school, i thought that i'd love obgyn, but i wound up really doing poorly in it because i found it dreadfully dull. the only part i liked was the l&d part, probably because i always knew i wanted to be an or nurse, and the more technical, procedural it was, the more i liked it! :chuckle but, as much as a specialty as obgyn is, it added to my knowledge of assessment and the continuum of care. i certainly participate in surgeries of every age, and even a few prenatal surgeries. my pregnant patients are required to get an u/s prior to surgery to document the well-being of the fetus, and i can assist that process. i do c-sections, too. so, no matter where you wind up, you're going to get psych patients, pregnant patients, kids, elderly, etc. even in peds you will need to have some knowledge of ob, defining gestational ages at birth, mom's health, etc. it's really true: we are all connected.