How to deal with postpartum patients?

[MsFlo1982]

Hello all,

How does a nurse handles postpartum patients? What are the responsiblility of a nurse/ procedure? Does the nurse gives advice or educate the patient? What happen to the newborn baby at that point?

If there any nurses out there who can answer these questions for me. I would greatly appreciated!!!!!

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

Are you talking about on a general floor or postpartum floor?

[lalagrace]

it kind of depends what kind of unit your on. In some hospitals once the mom has had the baby she recovers for a few hours on L&D then is transfered to a postpartum floor. Some hospitals have Labor, Delivery, and Postpartum all in the same room. If it is a LDRP unit after delivery the delivery nurse takes care of mom and babe, usually with a second nurse helping out for the first few hours. If it is a seperate Postpartum unit she could have one nurse who takes care of her and another who takes care of babe, or one nurse who care for the couplet. If mom changes rooms, oftern the babe spends some time in the newborn nursery.

The nursery nurse and the moms nurse do give a lot of information, instructions, and general advice. Its a lot of education to do in a very short time, when mom is often stressed out, tired and drugged. But is its such a vital time to infuse mom with a sense of confidence.

I love working with that population, if you clarify what you need to know I could answer better.