Need to hear about post partum nursing!

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

Our NICU is SLOW right now, so I was oriented to post-partum. I only cared for the babies. The nurse I was with cared for the moms. The refreshing thing about this experience was the patients weren't really sick! Does that make sense? I don't look at post-partum women as being "sick"...so it was a laid-back nice shift for me. The babies looked so good and healthy! I liked it so much I'm thinking about cross-training there and picking up extra hours. Has anyone ever worked PP and like it? do you have any advice to give me? the pros and cons of it all?

Just wanting to hear your experiences...I've never worked PP since nursing school! And was only there after my own deliveries.

Anyway, it seems like a pretty stress-free environment, which was nice for a change! No monitors, etc. They even had a CNA to do mom's vitals and pass trays.

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Specializes in orthopaedics.

i truly enjoyed my preceptorship on a postpartum unit. though some days were hectic as i imagine they are on any floor for the most part it was great. the nurses rotated between the nursery and being out on the floor with the moms. i loved taking care of the family as a whole and the teaching that went along with it.

in the nursery we set up for circumcisions, admitted new babies, did assessments and monitored babies under bili lights.

on the floor it was a lot of hands on instruction with breastfeeding education, car seat evaluation, monitoring hgb and hct, bleeding, (lady partsl and from sections.

geez i could go on. can you tell i really enjoyed my stint on postpartum?:lol2:

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.
i truly enjoyed my preceptorship on a postpartum unit. though some days were hectic as i imagine they are on any floor for the most part it was great. the nurses rotated between the nursery and being out on the floor with the moms. i loved taking care of the family as a whole and the teaching that went along with it.

in the nursery we set up for circumcisions, admitted new babies, did assessments and monitored babies under bili lights.

on the floor it was a lot of hands on instruction with breastfeeding education, car seat evaluation, monitoring hgb and hct, bleeding, (lady partsl and from sections.

geez i could go on. can you tell i really enjoyed my stint on postpartum?:lol2:

where do you work now?

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I start my new job next month on post-partum and I cannot wait to start! I currently work on a Med-Surg floor. We have alot of colon-rectal surgeries/cancer, lap chole, patients with multiple injuries from wrecks-many of the injuries are a result from being drunk or high on almost ever drug you can think of. It seems we never get the victim-the innocent driver that was hit by the drunk as many of them have DIED or are on some sort of life support or a brain dead. I really do have compassion but lately I have really had to separate myself from the "injured" patients as they cry and scream that their pain isn't relieved--I guess your pain wouldn't be if you are used to using cocaine daily and I bring you 2 Lortab-5(MD orders) for pain caused by your 2 chest tubes and 2 broken legs.

I am really looking forward to some happier patients. I have friends that work this unit and I know that there are some sad stories but I am in agreement with you-for the most part these are healthy patients! My true goal is to become a Certified Lactation Consultant. I think it is a wonderful thing to help a new mom become successful at nursing her child if she so desires!!

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I had worked in the NICU for about 5 years when I took a job on an LDRP unit, planning to orient to mother-baby first, then L&D. After the high-tech atmosphere of the NICU, I thought I would find mother-baby boring, but a necessary step to get to L&D, which was my real goal.

Turns out I had it backwards. I ended up loving mother-baby, and found L&D to be just "OK". I was amazed how much teaching and interacting with healthy moms, babies, and families appealed to me.

Go ahead and cross-train to mother-baby. I found it to be a nice change of pace and a rewarding place to work.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Nursery, Post-Partum.

I normally do well baby nursery, not NICU, but I have also been cross training to Post Partum. It is a nice change to take care of patients who aren't "sick"...I used to work Telemetry, so I remember truly sick patients. I find it very easy on Post Partum, but maybe I'm missing something, since my coworkers always seem to be under stress and get really bogged down charting and such (yet they say they don't need help?). I think its fun almost, the moms talk to you coherently, they are usually pleasant, they usually want your help and want your teaching. There's still some challenges (such as being on the lookout for infection, hemmorrhage, etc) which can be good...but its such a nice, laid back atmosphere, not too many meds, vitals q shift after the first day...its like a vacation at work! Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but its a good change of pace. The hardest part for me is breast feeding help, but that's simply because the whole world of moms and babies are new to me and I'm still learning.

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Specializes in orthopaedics.

while in my last semester of school i spent seven weeks on postpartum. i would of loved to work there after graduation. the hospital was in a hiring freeze and was not hiring anyone.

i've only just gotten my license in the past week. i was just hired to work orthopaedics a great hospital that is close to home. i have previous experience working with ortho and think it will be great place to start.

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.
I normally do well baby nursery, not NICU, but I have also been cross training to Post Partum. It is a nice change to take care of patients who aren't "sick"...I used to work Telemetry, so I remember truly sick patients. I find it very easy on Post Partum, but maybe I'm missing something, since my coworkers always seem to be under stress and get really bogged down charting and such (yet they say they don't need help?). I think its fun almost, the moms talk to you coherently, they are usually pleasant, they usually want your help and want your teaching. There's still some challenges (such as being on the lookout for infection, hemmorrhage, etc) which can be good...but its such a nice, laid back atmosphere, not too many meds, vitals q shift after the first day...its like a vacation at work! Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but its a good change of pace. The hardest part for me is breast feeding help, but that's simply because the whole world of moms and babies are new to me and I'm still learning.

That's exactly how I felt about my experience there. I'm waiting to hear back from the manager about cross-training.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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I just want to say that it takes a special person to be a post-partum nurse. I have a lot of respect for you all. I had a wonderful nurse after I had my daughter. I called her a month ago to thank her for being so patient and so darn nice!!! Good Luck!!!

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

Well, i guess NICU nurses here don't have any experience with post partum?

I'm sometimes very surprised at how many people read posts here and don't respond, at all.

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

I posted on 2 other forums asking about Post partum experiences, and I got maybe 2 replies.

I've been a NICU nurse for 17 years and I like it, but when I floated to the P.P. unit, I really enjoyed it because the patients weren't really sick. I'm sure there are time when they are, but this was a nice change for me. I am thinking about cross-training to the unit. Would like to hear any words of advice, esp. from ob/gyn nurses. Or NICU nurses who have changed to post partum.

thanks

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Hello,

I merged your three threads with the 6 responses.

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