Any Antepartum nurses?

eandgsma · Mar 28, 2007

I'm a nurse extern on a Antepartum floor (we call it PSCU - Perinatal Special Care Unit). We do all the Mag pts, ante and postpartum. I don't find them scary at all. I've had shifts where 2 out of 3 of my patients are on Mag. We assess q4h. Yeah, its yucky for them but we try to be on top of things as much as possible. I'm loving my externship and was offered to stay til the end of the year (graduation). I'm interviewing for the L&D externship but if I don't get it I'll stay on PSCU. Sorry sidetracked...Anyway, our pt ratio is 1:3 or 1:4 depending on how full we are. We share a floor with a woman's surgical unit but they get bumped often for our pts. I guess when all you take care of is high risk moms it doesn't seem SO scary...until something goes wrong but I think that is the case no matter what floor you are on. Just my newbie opinion!

- N

NikRN · Mar 28, 2007

Mag pts are very routine on our AP unit. I've been taking care of mag pts for so long that it's not scary at all. Where are the pts going ? Are there special high risk rooms in L&D. We have those rooms but they are for critical pts.(more one on one pts).:caduceus:

After delivery a pt who needs to be on mag usually stays on t he L&D floor. If they get full then they move the mag pt to our floor but a L&D nurse will still have care. A few years ago I heard that our floor was taking care of mag pts. But liike I said, a few of the nurses literally "cried" when having to care of them. Recently we were in desperate need to have one of our more experienced nurses care for a mag pt because L&D was so full. I walked in to a nurse bawling her eyes out over the request. its quite strange.

I love my job, I would just like to expand my experience/knowlege and do mag pts. I may just have to move to L&D I guess.

LilPeanut, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 29, 2007

I think the question, which is similar to what I have, is about the antepartum patients having to stay in L&D.

When I was on the AP floor as a pt., my hospital friend was on Mag for 6 weeks, and I can't imagine having to be on the L&D floor. I had to be in L&D for 1 week during my 2nd pregnancy and it was hell. The nurses there don't really know what to do with you, they get annoyed by the fact we can't get up and do anything at all, I had to call the front desk every single shift if I wanted to be able to receive phone calls (because L&D rooms typically do not allow incoming calls), I didn't have a fridge, and my room wasn't set up for a bedrester. Those poor moms!

darthsunshine, BSN · Dec 1, 2007

I'm a new grad (May 07) and have been working L&D in a Level 1 Trauma Ctr Hospital and have had the awesome experience of working with MD residents and seeing A LOT of high risk pts. I've been working nights, and very quickly realized that is not going to work out for my family, so needing to switch to a day shift, but my unit has a 1.5-2 yr wait list to move to days. Boo.

So, looking for a new job now and just interviewed for position in an Antepartum unit. (There are NO L&D day shift positions in my city now). I'm thinking Antepartum will be a "close 2nd" choice for me.

For those of you "seasoned" AP nurses...what do you think? Considering my limited options....

webbiedebbie · Dec 1, 2007

I have worked many different hospitals in my career. I was trained in L&D as a grad nurse. We had 4 LDR's on one side and postpartum/nursery on the other side. Antepartum was done on either side because we were all cross-trained. We also cared for GYN on Postpartum. From there, I went to a big city teaching hospital which had a separate unit for antepartum. I especially liked working in that unit because it was 1:1, whereas in L&D we were 1:2 which I really hated especially if I had both on Pit and one was delivering and I would have to shut down the other Pit to do my delivery, which didn't make sense to me...anyway, I also worked nights and the AP unit was dim and quiet. I always jumped at the chance to work a shift there. Went to a smaller hospital closer to home and Antepartum was split again between L&D and Postpartum depending on the situation. Mag pt's were always done on L&D though. I enjoyed them also because it was again 1:1 care for Mag pt's and it wasn't scary for me at all.

I have worked many others because of relocating with my first husband's jobs. Pretty much I would say that each hospital has been different in how they divide up their units. The hard part for me was learning what each unit was responsible for because each one did them differently.

Darthsunshine...I think antepartum would be great experience for you especially if you are able to get on days. Good luck and keep us posted. I learned a lot on Antepartum!

The Little Greek · Dec 4, 2007

It's interesting to hear how other units handle L&D, AP, PP. I work in a trauma center and we have a pretty large unit. We have (in theory) AP, AP, and transition nsy on one floor and PP and GYN on another. I say "in theory" because PP ALWAYS gets mixed in to our AP/L&D floor. We care for mag pt's all the time and it is not uncommon to have two at a time. It gets a little hairy when you have 5 pts which can sometimes include 2 APs and 3 mother-baby couplets. Let's just say that even on night shift I don't have a chance to sit all night with a load like that.

Darthsunshine--I would say go for the AP unit for sure. I have yet to work in L&D because I haven't stayed in one place long enough (hospitals I've worked require you to be there at least a year before training and sometimes even with pestering it takes longer). My opinion is that AP will build much needed skills that you'll use in L&D later--consider it a transition program. In L&D, usually pt's have been triaged and you know they're in labor. In AP you learn how to assess even the littlest change. Unless you've been in L&D before, my current job requires you to stay in AP/PP for one year before they'll train you and they've seen a lot of success with that--increased nurse retention and nurse satisfaction. Good luck with whatever you choose!