Tomorrow I start my first clinical in post-, labor and delivery, nursery, and peds. What is the main assessment, labs, and ext.. I can do for my patient??? I have no idea what to expect, nor do I what to go into peds or labor and delivery. Scared student
lisamc1RN, LPN 943 Posts Specializes in LTC/Behavioral/ Hospice. Has 4 years experience. May 31, 2005 Relax. :) It's going to be great! I'm in OB clinicals right now and I'm finding it to be a wonderful experience! Do you know where you will be first? I was in nursery first. For nursery it would be a good idea to study jaundice and bilirubin labs. Understand the different types of circumcisions and the nursing interventions for both jaundice and circumcision. Are you doing med cards? We did Vit. K, erythromycin ophthalmic ointment and the Hep. B vaccine. I did a care plan for Risk for hypothermia related to body heat loss, which I think is pretty standard for every baby. Find out the hospital policy on cord care, what they use and how often. Brush up on Apgar scoring. Do you have a infant nursing asessesment sheet? If not, remember to take vital signs, note whether baby is breast or bottle fed, check skin color and texture, see if you notice any birthmarks and note them. Brush up on terms like acrocyanosis and moro reflex. More assessments-head (fontanels, shape=molding, caput, cephalehematoma), eyes placement and drainage, chest lung sounds and respiratory distress signs, abdomen=cord, bowel sounds, contour, stools, voidings, male genitalia and female genitalia=discharge , urethral opening, activity level, cry, reflexes. I also did discharge teaching to the mother but I used the discharge sheets that are standard at the hospital. It was very easy to follow and the mom didn't ask me any questions that I didn't know the answer to or couldn't look at my instructor for the answers to! :chuckle I really enjoyed talking with the parents. They were so excited about their new baby! I hope this helps for nursery. I'm still putting together my info for postpartum but hopefully someone else can give you an idea of what you'll need there and in l&d. :) Don't worry. It's quite a bit different from my experience in LTC but it is a huge learning experience and very interesting! Good luck!
beautimouslove 60 Posts Jun 1, 2005 thanks so much for ur time. ur words and experience helped out sooo much.
