Postpartum confusion.

[guiltysins]

So this is just something I've run into during school, I'm in my last semester of pre-reqs and for my human development class we were asked to do a 5-year career plan and share our goals. So I said I have an interest in either Pediatric, Neonatal or Postpartum nursing. I find that a lot of people, including my professor have never heard the term Postpartum Nurse (I didn't before being on this board) and automatically assumed it had something to do with postpartum depression. This isn't the first time someone has said it so usually I say L&D, Maternity or Mother-Baby but I thought that since 85% of students in this class were also pre-nursing students, that maybe there was a chance they had the term before.

Anyway just my little story for the day lol. Has anyone else ever encountered this when referring to Postpartum nursing?

[SmilingBluEyes]

I cannot say I have. You can always refer to it as postnatal nursing, or couplet care and that may clear it up. Or just explain what you really mean.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I have heard the term, but almost exclusively in hospitals that don't do couplet care, which is becoming less and less the norm. So, 'postpartum nurse' in that context is the nurse that cares strictly for the mother and not for the baby.

If you're at a facility that does couplet care, you're much more likely to hear 'mother/baby nurse' or something along those lines.

[guiltysins]

I have heard the term, but almost exclusively in hospitals that don't do couplet care, which is becoming less and less the norm. So, 'postpartum nurse' in that context is the nurse that cares strictly for the mother and not for the baby.

If you're at a facility that does couplet care, you're much more likely to hear 'mother/baby nurse' or something along those lines.

All the facilities do couplet care, but some call it a postpartum unit while others call it a mother/baby unit so some have it listed as postpartum nurses and others have it listed as mother/baby nurse. I only heard it as mother/baby nurse personally.

[Finally2008]

Yep, I had people think that a lot (why??). Then, when I switched to calling my job Mother/Baby nurse, people always thought I was delivering babies....

[LoveANurse09]

I have. The hospital I work in still has separate nurses for nursery and the mothers. So I have always called them the postpartum nurse. I actually didnt hear the term mother/baby until this site! I guess it just depends wherre you are in the world!