Labor and Delivery staffing

JaneyW · Mar 13, 2004

I work in a small but busy hospital. I am in CA and we have had to have 2 RNs at all times in my area for a while now--not just with the new laws. If someone is pushing, they are a 1-1. It is way too dangerous to be there by yourself--especially if you're not very experienced (I'm not either!). I have spent a few nights with no patients and was very glad for the company of the other RN! Good thing I enjoy who I work with.

There are also many nights--esp Sunday NOCS/Mon am--when it seems a bus pulls out and lets out 6-7 labor patients at once at 5:30-6am after a night of no patients at all! It is so hard to go from 0 to 100mph when you're at that puchy time of the morning!

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Mar 13, 2004

We have a small hospital with about 150 deliveries a year. Frequently we have 1 RN in OB with the supervisor as back up. I've been the OB nurse during an emergency, and worked it as a team leader of several RN's. The code team comes over and they do what they are directed to- meds, IV, blood, record keeping, the supervisor runs for supplies, and the OB nurse did team leading and any strictly OB stuff like SVE's and FHT's. Emergency measures can be handled for as long as it takes to get the second RN in- the doc communicates to the OB nurse, and she does the assessing, prioritizing, and then directs the team. You need a good group and a L&D nurse that is clear headed and knows the skills of her team though. That would be difficult in a larger hospital when you might not work with each other regularly.

I agree that it would be great to have someone else around all the time, but it's just not going to happen, so we developed a plan to get us through emergencies, and it has proven effective whenever we've needed it.