sunnynurse

LOved that birthplan!! We always groan when someone comes in with a birth plan, or as we call them.... "KOD" the Kiss of Death. If anyone wants a birth plan we always suggest that they review it with the midwife or doctor PRIOR to labor! Also it is more impressive to come in with a birth plan NOT copied directly off the internet... for goodness sake, just copy it to your word processing and make the changes then print that ! LOL we do laugh at the ones with the options left blank - like who will be there and husband, boyfriend, signifcant other are all listed!

Personally I find it easiest to pronounce JACHO as "je-hov-a"

Hello newbie to L/D: Sounds like you are partially on the right tract by recongnizing that there is something wrong at your faciility. Don't let the "bad news" at conferences scare you (the way that women love to tell other women their horror stories of pregnancy). Use the information you recieve at the conference for the betterment of your unit. As others have suggested - use your ACOG and AWHONN and American Acadamy of Pediatrics guidlines as your guideline. Write down what you do and what the guidlines say. Take this to your charge nurse, and then your manager... always use that chain of command! anddddddddddddd always keep a copy for yourself. If this gets you nowhere, continue on up that chain - with the proper documentation of course. You can't go wrong if you are following the guidelies that leagally we all try to follow. As for call the docs and no one comes... I hope you are charting in the chart EACH and EVERY time that you call them. Again - documentation. Did you know that you can do things like turn OFF the pit if there is a problem. Request that the secretary also is required to take NRP - our techs do. Request that there be two NRP certified personel at each delivery - with at least one of them a RN. You can also do things like when given an assignment that you can not do because of staffing. Write it down, not that you are refusing to care for the patient but that you do not feel that the staffing is adequate. This then goes to the charge nurse and the shift supervisor. Of course it will also be going to the Manager. And remember we all have times that we work short - I think sometimes those pregnant women call each other up and come in to have a party - but you should not be working short each and every night. Take it easy, be brave, good luck. Sunny in florida

We used to have nurses "week" - we are now down to nurses "day", but at least they do something for the four major shifts.... one year we got a large lollipop.... we figured they were trying to tell us we were "suckers" ............ this year.... a cup....... and we budget for $10 per nurse for nurses day.. i guess the rest of the money was spent on the icecream social, and the breakfast or lunch.