About a year ago, we were busy, very busy. Some very sick babies, and many preemies. Now the census is down, and nurses are having to stay home, sometimes missing 2 or more days on a paycheck.
Is it like this everywhere? I know L&D has had slightly less patients. Are we doing better with prenatal care, so we are having less preemies etc.?
I have read that families are deciding to hold off having another child due to the economy, but as many of our patients are Medicare, that has not seemed to be a factor. We have our fair share of teenage moms, with little money and few resources.
we also have periods of low census. It comes and goes. Some nurses will offer to work other areas in order to not be cancelled. We take turns with cancellation. Some nurses want low census days and they would be cancelled first. Personally I don't mind the occasional day off.
Lol true! Of course the unexpected day off would be welcomed! Since I just started not too long ago, I haven't had the chance to cross train for another unit yet!
Thanks for your replies. I found out that our deliveries really are down, maybe people are actually putting off having babies! We still have a lot of teenage moms, though. They don't think about the cost of raising children, and for the most part, we are paying for their deliveries.
I've worked here a long time. I don't have any problems missing a day, but it's very hard on some nurses, who have chosen an hours drive to work at other hospitals. We hope that things improve soon!
I haven't worked in over a week. Took 3 days PTO rather than float to peds. We had 4 or 5 babies the last time I worked. Rival hospital next door just delivered 25 week quints. Wish we'd gotten them!
Thankfully for the nation as a whole, the teen pregnancy rate is down. Debate persists over the cause, but it is felt it is a combination of overall falling fertility rates and economic stresses. I know this article is a year old, but I doubt things have changed dramatically since then.
babybums
39 Posts
we also have periods of low census. It comes and goes. Some nurses will offer to work other areas in order to not be cancelled. We take turns with cancellation. Some nurses want low census days and they would be cancelled first. Personally I don't mind the occasional day off.