Have is the shift on postpartum unit look like

Ariel70113 · Sep 3, 2005

I'm starting my jog on postpartum next monday and I would like to hear your stories. What to expect and how it is on night shift. What should I be prepare for , which materials I should read and so on...
thanks!

I am also interested about the postpartum unit! Are you an RN or LVN?? Let us know how it goes! :)

breastfeedingRN · Sep 3, 2005

Hi! I started as a new grad on PP about 11 months ago. Every place is different I am sure, but here is how my night typically goes.

I usually have 4 couplets assigned to me. Get report and am introduced to my patients from offgoing nurse. After getting report I get my charts and check for any new orders or orders that haven't been done yet. I go through my clipboards and see what the patient will need that night, are they going home tomorrow, is all their teaching done, does baby need tests done before the AM so they can go home, etc.

By 8pm or so I start assessing my moms and make a quick assessment of baby as well. I go over the plan for the night, answer any questions and then move on the the next mom. After that I start charting on my moms, unless I was lucky enough to chart between moms. By 10pm, I am done with assessments and am starting on charting.

Around midnight we do our baby assessments, we take them from the room to another room with a scale and good lighting and do a full assessment and weight. We figure out how much weight they have lost, if it is WNL and if not what we will do about it (usually with breastfeeding moms, though sometimes bottlefeeding moms are underfeeding). When I am done with baby assessments, usually by 2am, I chart some more and then go to lunch. When I get back, I finish charting, do the chart checks and also sign off the next days MARs.

Around 5 or 6am, depending on how many babes need to be done, I start taking the babies to do their Newborn Screens and Bilichek (for jaundice). I also update the feeding sheets for babes at this time and then they go back to their moms. That usually ends up getting me until 7am which is time to give report and then go home!

Of course, that is only when things go as planned. There are always nights with babies that have problems breastfeeding, pain issues, or starting the night with only 2 or 3 couplets and then getting 1 or 2 new admits. Meds are given as well, IV antibiotics hung, postpartum hemorrhages, moms on mag sulfate, etc.

I really love postpartum. It can be hectic some nights and other nights things just go smoothly and I actually get finished with everything on schedule.

As for things to bring. Maybe the normal parameters for moms and babies, what you are assessing when you do your assessment, etc.

I am imagining you will be following a preceptor for awhile? Hopefully you will be able to learn a lot from them and maybe even get to precept with a few people and see how their routines differ.

I liked having a good Maternal/Child nursing reference with me, just in case.

Good luck to you! Postpartum can be a very fun and rewarding place!

RNsweetie · Nov 10, 2005

I have worked on PP for a year and a bit, and i too love it! +++

My night is a bit different because i work only 8 hr shifts but basicly the same as breastfeedingRN, except that we get 5+5 on nights. I have a question for you though, when i did work 12 hr shifts, the eve cheks were usually done by the day 12 shift ( i say ususally because if all heck is breaking loose then some were left for 1930), so my question is do you do a check always at around 2000 and then none for nights? just wondering.

I get on at 2330 fill in my brains (my sheet) and then get report from nurse leaving. then i let the HCA know what the status of the pts are any foleys and any weights for the night.

I check my moms and babes (all babes get a check but only vag moms if they are in the first 24 hrs if past that then no night shift check, unless issues. Also if you have a fresh CS then she is checked q 4 hrs in the first 24 with hourly resp checks, then q 8 hrs for the next 24 hrs).

I would say the majority of my night shifts are spent with breastfeeding moms.

I also have another question.... are your CS moms allowed to room in the first night they are over in PP, ours are not if they have foley and iv still in but i have heard form other hosp in our area that they are. Our reasoning is that as we know cs babes are mucusy moms could not get to babe fast enough.

I love working with moms with breastfeeding and have taken a course sponsered though the hosp to help me with this. I have 3 children of my own and breastfed them all with no problems so working here has been a real eye opener!! This breastfeeding counseller course was a big help.

Anyway after i am done my checks 1st round, then i chart if i have time, i like to do it all at once and early becasue you never know whats going to happen. then all i have to do is fill in feling record and voids and stools in the am.

then i do my second round of checks for my cs moms and chart the same

after weights are done then i check against the 8% and if babe has lost more than that we talk to moms about more frequent feeds, reinforce correct latch and possibly get the LC involved.

Closer to morning i take out foleys if moms are able to ambulate well and any ivs that can come out.

Do my charting on the same and then usually i tape my report and leave at 0745. on a good night everything goes as planned and i do leave at that time.

Good luck, i hope you enjoy it as much as i do!

:)

Altalorraine · Nov 10, 2005

I'm starting my job on postpartum next monday and I would like to hear your stories. What to expect and how it is on night shift. What should I be prepare for , which materials I should read and so on...
thanks!

Be prepared for L&D nurses who are trying to discharge patients from their floor to your floor. Be gracious; they're not trying to make your life harder, it's just that they are triaging laboring patients in the OR and need the room.

:chuckle

Good luck in your new job.

Altalorraine

RNsweetie · Nov 10, 2005

great point, this is one thing about PP night shift you don' have the discharges but certainly have the admissions;

I had a really good preceptor and she let me listen to her taking report a few times and that gave me a good idea of important info needed for recieving the couplet with out having to waste time looking through the chart for the info they already have and know.

Erin

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 11, 2005

I like LDRP better. You can do it all there------and it never gets boring.

NurseBecks · Dec 27, 2010

What you describe sounds very similar to what I do in mother/baby at my hospital. Do you have a good "brain" sheet that you'd be willing to share with me? I've been trying very hard to develop an ideal one myself, but if I don't have to reinvent the wheel, I'd prefer not to! Thanks a ton!!!