mom2Alina

i was recently sent an article that states the use of magnesium sulfate to women in preterm labour may be dangerous...i have posted a portion of the article... "magnesium sulfate administered intravenously to a pregnant woman who is about to deliver a premature infant is an unconfirmed, ineffective and potentially fatal treatment, david grimes and kavita nanda of family health international write in an obstetrics and gynecology commentary published in the october issue of the journal, the washington post reports. infusions of magnesium sulfate, or epsom salts, commonly are administered to pregnant women between 26 and 34 weeks' gestation for about 48 hours to delay contractions and allow the injection of steroids, which increases the rate of fetal lung development. according to the post, magnesium sulfate can cause side effects that include blurred vision, burning sensations, headaches, nausea and "profound lethargy." in some cases, it can lead to pulmonary edema, a condition in which the lungs fill with liquid, the post reports." (from medical news today) the article then goes on to discuss the use of mgso4 seems to be only in north america and is not commonly practiced in other parts of the world. at my hospital we do not use mgso4 to stop preterm labour on most cases and instead use a nitro patch, which is just as effective and with less side effects. what's the protocol at your hospital?

We seem to get calls with patients asking if they can book a private room for after their delivery all the time. Firstly, our private rooms are first come, first service so we don't know if there will be any available until AFTER the delivery. But the disturbing part of these phones calls is that they are usually around 4-6 in the morning!?! and the women isn't even due for a couple of weeks!! Why would someone be worrying about a private room at 4am.... Another time I answered the phone and the lady on the other end told me she thought her water had just broke and she was 32 weeks. I told her to come in right away so that we could check her and monitor the baby. Then she proceeded to tell me " Well...the thing is my husband just hit my G-Spot, so I'm not sure if it's my water or something else, also he just 'finished' inside me, should I leave it there so you guys can check it?" Ummm ok....how do you respond to something like that?

12 shifts is 144 hours of time with a preceptor, and yes we do have a huge turnover rate. I think part of the problem is a lot of the more experienced nurses are leaving so there is not a lot of people to preceptor our new grads. 3 of the new grads that I oriented just before going on Mat leave, are now orientating new staff. It is sometimes scary when I get report from a nurse saying the patient is fully dilated and they have begun pushing and I check her and she's only 7 cm dilated. Still, after almost 5 years of L&D, if I am unsure while doing a lady partsl exam, I will ask another staff member or doctor to check, just to make sure. But I find a lot of the new staff feel intimidated to ask for help. I was once there, I know how it feels to be overwhelmed with everything there is to know, but then I had over 4 months training with a midwife. I can't imagine, be orientated by someone who just went through orientation themselves!

We get new grads all the time on our busy level 3 unit, and it seems that they get 12 shifts and then are expected to work by themselves. And in that time they should know how to deal with a normal delivery, scrub, circulate and pretty much what ever else may come their way. To me it feels like we are setting them up for failure. Labour & delivery is a speciality and a lot of it is not taught in school. I have talked with a lot of the new staff to find out how they feel, and they say completely unprepared to deal with anything outside of a straight forward delivery, but are scared to speak up. Are you finding this in other hospitals as well?

Hi there I'm a labour & delivery nurse from Ontario Canada, and was thinking of relocating my family to Nevada and just had a couple of questions.... 1. What can I expect in terms of pay? I have 5 years experience in a level 3 labour & delivery unit. 2. What's the cost of living like in Nevada. Here in Ontario we pay 15% tax on anything we buy and housing starts in the $300 000 to buy. 3. What is nurse/patient ratio? Does anyone work in L&D so that I can get an idea of the work enviroment from you? 4. Should I contact a hospital directly or go through a agency? Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give.