Maternity Nursing

j0yegan · Jul 25, 2015

Each hospital is different. Focused assessments, vital signs every 1-8 hours depending on type of delivery, dealing with medications, foleys, IVs, complications that may arise, possible blood sugars, list goes on. Don't forget constant admissions and discharges. It's pretty much like med surg. There IS a lot of education involved. Just read all the handouts you give the moms. And for advancement opportunities, you can become a manager, nurse practitioner, director, CNO.

dreamer30 · Jul 26, 2015

Each hospital is different. Focused assessments, vital signs every 1-8 hours depending on type of delivery, dealing with medications, foleys, IVs, complications that may arise, possible blood sugars, list goes on. Don't forget constant admissions and discharges. It's pretty much like med surg. There IS a lot of education involved. Just read all the handouts you give the moms. And for advancement opportunities, you can become a manager, nurse practitioner, director, CNO.

Thank you @j0yegan I appreciate that. Are you in post partum? Do you enjoy it?

iPink, BSN, RN · Jul 27, 2015

I'm a postpartum nurse and as a tech it will be a good start to get your foot in the door and observe everything. Some moms could be q4h vitals and others q8h. Some pts will be on Mag while others maybe on Pitocin if bleeding excessively.

Every hospital and unit is different but with mine we don't do couplet care. I work both the floor taking care of moms and other days I work the nursery, taking care of infants. As a nursery nurse, I don't just rock babies to sleep all night as some of my pts think I do. PKUs (state infant screening test) are done, vitals, daily weights, TCBs which can lead to T.bili lab draws if levels are high, preterm infants get car seat trials, we get NAS infants and other boarders, infants on triple photo therapy are assessed more frequently, I have babies whose moms are chorio and therefore on antibiotics too. If a newborn needs blood cultures, you do it and place an IV just in case baby will be started on antibiotics when results come in. In the middle of all that, a mom is calling for help with assisting with breastfeeding. You must have great time management skills to do well as a nursery nurse or you'll easily drown. I work at a very large women's hospitals (about 15K-20K births per year) so there's a reason why we're so busy.

dreamer30 · Jul 29, 2015

I'm a postpartum nurse and as a tech it will be a good start to get your foot in the door and observe everything. Some moms could be q4h vitals and others q8h. Some pts will be on Mag while others maybe on Pitocin if bleeding excessively.
Every hospital and unit is different but with mine we don't do couplet care. I work both the floor taking care of moms and other days I work the nursery, taking care of infants. As a nursery nurse, I don't just rock babies to sleep all night as some of my pts think I do. PKUs (state infant screening test) are done, vitals, daily weights, TCBs which can lead to T.bili lab draws if levels are high, preterm infants get car seat trials, we get NAS infants and other boarders, infants on triple photo therapy are assessed more frequently, I have babies whose moms are chorio and therefore on antibiotics too. If a newborn needs blood cultures, you do it and place an IV just in case baby will be started on antibiotics when results come in. In the middle of all that, a mom is calling for help with assisting with breastfeeding. You must have great time management skills to do well as a nursery nurse or you'll easily drown. I work at a very large women's hospitals (about 15K-20K births per year) so there's a reason why we're so busy.

Thank you!!! Your post is exactly what I'm looking for. Right down to the nitty gritty details lol. I appreciate this. Thank you so much!

sweetsthrnsass · Sep 23, 2015

Howdy! I'm a nursing student and about to start applying for jobs. I'm trying to figure out exactly what the job I need to be searching for is called. I want to work with newborns whether it be nursery or couplet. Is there a specific title for this? I don't want to do the postpartum part of couplet care. Just want to care for the newborns. Can anyone help me?

Postpartum RN · Sep 23, 2015

Howdy! I'm a nursing student and about to start applying for jobs. I'm trying to figure out exactly what the job I need to be searching for is called. I want to work with newborns whether it be nursery or couplet. Is there a specific title for this? I don't want to do the postpartum part of couplet care. Just want to care for the newborns. Can anyone help me?

You should probably make your own thread in the future to get replies to your question..but it sounds like you would want to apply to a nursery position. I am not sure though how common it is for a nursery RN to stay only in the nursery, I think they usually do float to post partum.

Or perhaps you would like a NICU position, there you only work with the sick babies and usually do not float, however you will have to deal a whole ton with the parents and families and educating them.

iPink, BSN, RN · Sep 24, 2015

Howdy! I'm a nursing student and about to start applying for jobs. I'm trying to figure out exactly what the job I need to be searching for is called. I want to work with newborns whether it be nursery or couplet. Is there a specific title for this? I don't want to do the postpartum part of couplet care. Just want to care for the newborns. Can anyone help me?

We have nursery nurses on my postpartum unit. None of my hospital's four postpartum floors do couplet care. That is only done when we are extremely short staffed. I've been working there for almost 2 years and never experienced couplet care. You can either be a Mother and Baby nurse or soley a Nursery nurse. I do both as I see it as a benefit to know how to care for adults and newborns. That means when I get to work, I may be listed to work in the nursery and the next shift I may be listed to work on the floor.

Since you will be a new grad, I would encourage you to apply to a postpartum unit and be open to learning both, because you never know what can happen. My floor has experienced new grads who absolutely love the nursery and end up being stuck soley in the nursery and hardly ever working on the floor as a Mother nurse. The rare times they were on the floor, they were lost. They were struggling on knowing how to hang antibiotics, give BP meds, etc. That's terrible if you're a new grad.

If you would like to take care of very sick babies (i.e. NICU), the Mother/Baby unit is a good start. A few of the new grads on my unit finished up their 1 year have now transferred to the Neonatal Unit and are NICU nurses.