SuperFlyRN

Those are great ideas! Thanks so much for the input :wink2:

I work with an OB/NICU nurse who is retiring this year after 38 years in our hospital and wanted something special to get her that she will love. She enjoys reading and gardening but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a good book idea? I just can't think of any... Thanks

My dad was born during WWII and my grandma delivered him in a bomb shelter in North London. He was her first and she was terrified and did not know what was going on..my grampa had just moved down the shelter to check on someone and he came back and had a son. She said all she remembers is the explosions and screams from outside and here she is delivering her child. My dad assisted with the birth of his brother 3 years later athome.....

Our hospital recently went acute care only, meaning, no RPN's (same as LPN here in Canada). I say go straight for RN if you can. More possibilities. Ever since we went to a Birthing Center type facility where the staff is all cross-training, our staff is dropping off like flies.

We are a rooming-in facility-completely. If mom is critical, babe goes to NICU (unfortunately, but not with the sick babies). In the rare instance that we take a baby to be watched at the desk, they are bottle-feeders. It is detrimental to mom in the long run if she is breastfeeding and missing babes "cues". Plus our unit is H-U-G-E and to run a baby down the hall every q1-1 and a half hours is not feasable.

Our unit started Emergency Drills about one year ago and they are fabulous! They are spontaneous and very realistic and, IMO, a very effective teaching and training tool. Our program director started the drills after a very unfortuante DIC a couple years ago.

I totally agree. Part of my job is to help teach the new parents. In our facility we do not even HAVE a nursery. Every baby rooms-in and total care is taken by the new parents. When they are given their pre-natal tours they are explained that it is expected that a support person stay (pref. Dad) to assist the new mom. We have had babies that were taken out for the night and they are literally left at the desk (as long as a nurse is there we can do this, but with our current shortage it is hard-emergency bell goes off and someone has to stay behind with the baby so we try to discourage this) and then the mom wants to go home and she is asking a million and one questions that had her baby been in her care she would have picked up on some of those "cues". My "normal" PP assignment when I work PP is 4-5 moms and 4-5 babies. If I take even one of those babies and I am tied up with a patient, someone at the desk (that has a very similiar assignment) is left to care for "my" baby. It just does not work in our facility unfortunately. We have had patients request to baby be removed from the room and mom and dad or mom and grandma are both staying, I don't see the logic in this. They are with us such a short time-24 hours for NSVD and 60-72 hours for c/s-that every precious moment counts. We have not had a nursery in our hospital in six years.

Yup. We are in a union and they are required to call everyone. (otherwise it can be grieved). I work permanent nights and it irritates me to get called on my day off-especially at that unGodly hour!

I find that happens in every workplace as well, but I am especially noticing it recently. I work with a total lazy-do-the-bare-minimum nurse who does just enough to get by. I work in a Birthing Center and it is an always changing environment and this nurse does her Q-whatever-vitals and assessment and otherwise never sets foot in the patients room. I don't know how she does heath-teaching, breastfeeding support or whatever because she is always at the desk. She also has a student working with her and lets her do everything without checking up on her. I always get the "well we gave YOU the laboring patient and PP assignment because I know you can handle it". I like that they feel I am competent but sometimes it gets a bit much. Plus because I am often the charge nurse on my shift I am always bombarded with questions and sometime it gets overwhelming and that other chiqita gets off with doing the basics to get to the end of the shift. This is a nurse that will call every unit (our unit is huge and comprised of five sub-units), do an ALL-PAGE in the middle of the night because one of my patients waaay on the other wing needs pain meds! We have a Pyxis and all have codes...put the People magazine down and go do it!:angryfire

I've worked rotating for the first three years (two weeks days/two weeks nights) than we did a two and two for a while (two days than two nights than five off). Now I am strictly 12 hour nights and it is mainly because of childcare. My dh works long hours and I find I see more of my 5 year old son than if I worked 12 hour days. But I do prefer nights-I function better, not as miserable, you know. I work L&D so there is not a lot of "down time" (as many civilians seem to think!) as a lot of babies are born at night and as any new mom can attest-not a lot of newborns sleep at night either!! We book inductions round the clock so it is quite busy.

I want NO ONE "managing" me when they have not even experienced bedside nursing themselves because it is too "icky" or whatnot. Try pharmacy. I was a Pharmacist for years before I returned to be an RN-big difference in pay (and cleanliness) but I am a lOT happier

While I have nothing constructive to add except I think that it is a wonderful idea. Unfortunately I cannot think how to execute this but, wow, I know in our hospital this would be greatly appreciated. Nothing could be worse than on a horribly busy shift and you are trying to tend to everyone adequately and there is this laboring mom that needs all the support she can get-laboring and beyond. A very thoughtful, and much needed service. Good luck.

Just last night I had a 23-year-old frequent flyer (she was discharged 2 days ago with her 4th child) call 911 to say "my baby's not eating"-he wasn't, because she ran out of the "free formula" that we gave her. So she came in via ambulance to get more:rolleyes: ...than stopped to visit a friend that just delivered, ate her food tray and than asked how she goes about getting home?!! sigh

Uggggh! That makes me soooo glad that we don't have a nursery anymore although we somehow still get coerced into "watching" ppls babys at the desk-so much for rooming in. I love these ppl that try to force THEIR schedule on their newborn-I sometimes say to them-"did you give your daughter a copy of her feeding schedule so she knows when she should be hungry or....?"..Jeez.

In our hospital it is L&D is ALWAYS 1:1, even if that patient is long, thick and closed and intact and basically sleeping. PP our guidelines are four couplets per RN but, if necessary, we CAN go to five couplets per RN. My last shift I worked we were extemely short staffed and had 25 couplets to 4 RN's and we had to do some creative scheduling and use NICU to help with a 10 baby assignment and and the PP RN takes 10 moms. Yuck

Love this thread...(you'll find I'm sporadically posted throughout!) Where else can you divulge all those inner irks!? I also LOVE when I walk into the room for the first time to introduce myself and ask how MOM AND BABY are doing and I get, (before I get a word out except 'hi') "Oh good, we need diapers, formula, I need my pain meds-when is the IV coming out?-a spare pillow and -honey what did you want?-oh yeah, he needs towels, a blanket and pillow" and as I'm leaving to stock her up she follows with "I need to fill in a menu for tomorrow and will my husband get one?" Hospital, my a$$ Um--okay. I found this more when I worked PP-I would work a whole weekend (three 12 hour nights) and on Friday I had a patient as a fresh section so I had her all three nights and they are still calling me "my nurse" and don't know my freakin' name-even though I said it numerous times.

The "morning after" pill -RU486 and Ovral21/28 are not the same as Plan B.

I am a Pharmacist in Canada and Plan B has been available OTC to ALL AGES since then. Granted we dispense it a lot more-some repeaters-but considering I also work in L&D I see the other side. A decrease in unwanted pregnancies is alright by me. When I see the ppl coming in to buy Plan B and they can barely scrape the money up for that...probably a good thing in the long run.

There are some cultures (I ran into this situation once) that they do not believe in memoralizing the deceased. Everything was collected anyway, per the norm-just in case, but when it was mentioned they were horrified. It was a cultural thing in that case.

We used to cup feed than a babe aspirated so that was the end of that. (A mother was taught how to do it and was sleepy and it was done incorrectly, apparently). We teach mom to finger feed, offer bottle and that is it. We have rooming in and babe's DO NOT leave the room for nothing! Sometimes all the teaching in the world falls flat on a completely exhausted mom. I can't count how many times I have done health teaching, returned the following night and she is repeating the same questions and I am giving the same answers. "But he/she has been at the breast for hours" and I'm explaining to them that it is not flowing like a tap then. They think they have fed for an hour and the baby should be full to the top.

We assist (not really given an option not to now that I think about it!) every circ. And believe it or not, only a third of our OB's use any sort of anesthestic (Ametop, 24%Sucrose, LIdo, etc)

YES! YeS! I've worked it for only 5 years-not long- but it never gets old. It is the miracle of life! and as cheesy as that sounds, it is true. WE may have seen it over and over but it is their FIRST. It is not their fault, nor concern with how inept our upper management and all that is and I try my very best to devote to them my full attention (as I am with my other laboring mama and my delivered lady!) like there is no one else in the world. I work with many jaded nurses who are so task-oriented and labor'em, deliver'em, get'em out that it is disconcerting. I love my job and would not change it for nothin' ('cept maybe NICU:wink2: ).

That is why they made Magnums! For someone I, ahem, knew...

It is against our union for them to ask us any questions other than "is it work related?" (workers comp reasons). If they press any further~which they rarely do~ I ask to be passed through to our floor union rep. We do have the odd ppl that totally abuse our sick time (we get 120 consecutive days, upon returning for work for 2 weeks it is all reinstated again) but generally, when ppl call in sick they are sick.

As many as you feel you and your dh can happily care for! JMO. Personnally, I have one lovely, adorable son. He is five. We TTC for 6 years with him and I had a rough pg and delivery. My dh comes from a family of four siblings (2 adopted). I definately do not want to get pg again but would love to adopt.