Hi all, just wondering if any postpartum nurses can share about their experience. For 4 years I have worked in Stepdown at a county hospital. I love my patients and hands on skills but the stress of dealing with behaviors has been getting me down. Many of our patients are altered from substances, psychosis or dementia. Daily we deal with (as I'm sure many of you do) physical and verbal assaults, threats, noncompliance etc. I do not fault the patients for their behaviors as they are not in their right mind but it is hard to deal with.
I have bipolar disorder and many of the patients who come in for substance related issues and suicide attempts also have bipolar disorder, so it is discouraging. I have also suffered multiple sexual assaults and become upset when I have to hold down female patients for Foleys. This week I did one on a developmentally delayed girl who was screaming "Why are you doing this to me?!" while we held her legs apart. I left the room crying. I am not stressed by being busy or having sick patients, only dealing with behaviors.
Does anyone think postpartum would be better? At my facility I heard there can still be behaviors from moms who are altered from drugs, come from jail, have psych diagnoses and get violent if their babies are taken away. But it is not as frequent as on my floor. Also I wouldn't be getting hit by large men withdrawing from alcohol/meth and it is a more happy environment. I have dealt with postpartum emergencies such as pre-eclampsia and fetal demise and handled it well. Any advice is SUPER appreciated. Thanks for listening.
Did you like PP or NICU more? Looking at PP and have adult step-down experience.
Sorry, just saw this. I liked NICU better, used my brain more and less patients! Sicker yes, but fewer. If you have uncomplicated moms and babies PP can be rather boring, especially on nights. Plus, even as a young nurse, helping moms breastfeed killed my back, whether standing or sitting.
Sorry, just saw this. I liked NICU better, used my brain more and less patients! Sicker yes, but fewer. If you have uncomplicated moms and babies PP can be rather boring, especially on nights. Plus, even as a young nurse, helping moms breastfeed killed my back, whether standing or sitting.
I now have an opportunity to do either a PP unit or a cross-trained LDRP (floats every 4 hours based on needs)! Any advice there? I’d eventually like to do pediatric or NICU.
I now have an opportunity to do either a PP unit or a cross-trained LDRP (floats every 4 hours based on needs)! Any advice there? I’d eventually like to do pediatric or NICU.
Ugh, that's a hard one. Normally I'd say LDRP cuz you can get experience in all areas but possibly floating every 4 hours? That means you have to be utd at all times on your charting, and possibly 2-4+ new patients three times a shift. I would definitely want more details. I've been floated twice in a shift (so 3 assignments altogether) and it wasn't fun, I can't imagine doing it all the time.
LibraNurse27, BSN, RN
972 Posts
Aw I am sorry to hear that =( Can't wait til this is over