postpartum

hey! i just started working on post-partum in may, but i work days and at times it can get a little crazy. at my hospital we do couplet care and take care of mom and baby. during mom assessment i usually focus on fundus, lochia, vital signs (watching for hemorrhage is important!), homan's for dvt's, breast care, plus all your normal assessment things like BBS, BS, etc. we get pts. that need blood transfusions sometimes after delivery. Admit's (usually transfers) are not that bad do vital signs for couple hours depending on if a vag. or c/s delivery, we do a lot of PCA's after c/s, and discharges are easy too, but you teach a lot on this floor!! medications are usually pain meds, gas pills, suppisitories, sometimes you have to give like methergan to stop post-partal hemorrhage but i have yet to do that, some abx at times, nausea medications, but that's really it - it doesn't focus on medications too much, it's more abou teaching and transitioning into a new role. it's a wonderful unit and i wish you luck :)

hey thanks for all the great information,where I am starting ,it is not couplet.but teaching and caring for mother,so any more info would b:nurse::yeah:e great

thanks

PP on night shift is quieter than day or evening shift because usually there aren't all those visitors. However, you get admissions and will do a few discharges. My hospital keeps patients for 24 hours. If someone delivers at midnight, they usually choose to stay until the morning following their 24 hours, but some want to leave as soon as possible, so there may be a few discharges in the middle of the night. Our visiting hours end at 8PM, so we do lots of teaching once all the visitors are gone. There is also lots of informal teaching done during the entire shift. Although the mom would like to sleep all night, her baby usually has other ideas, so you have lots of chances to observe family interaction, bonding behaviors, and to teach about feeding, diapering, "back to sleep", cord care, interpreting infant cues, etc. Even if you're just caring for mother, the baby will be in her room quite a lot because she doesn't know the difference between night and day yet.

You usually don't do many procedures, they're scheduled during the day, so many places expect night shift to do the stocking, making chart packs, doing chart audits, the non-direct patient care chores that are necessary.

Meds: Oxytocin may still be running from recovery or PACU, Methergine, Hemabate, Cytotec (all to control bleeding). Ibuprofen, Tylenol w/ Codeine, Demerol, and whatever you're docs commonly use. You need to know about the use of spinal/epidural narcotics and their effect post op. Narcan, Nubaine, Benadryl, antinausea drugs are often used to treat the side effects of spinal/epidural narcotics. Antibiotics, sleepers, RhoGam, German measles vaccine. Women of all sorts have babies, so you may be giving insulin, antidepressants, anti seizure meds, antihypertensives, or practically anything else.