RNKatrinaK

Hi everyone, I have an idea for a business and I have searched the web and have been unable to locate anyone doing it. After witnessing all of the problems in long term care I am thinking of contracting with patients families on a one on one basis to check on their loved ones in facilities when they are unable to be there (living out of state, on vacation, ect.). Not a sitter but more medically comprehensive visit. Is any one out there doing this?

I am in Knoxville TN - was just offered $26.50 hr. I am an RN

Interestingly enough, I used that very statement just the other day to describe how I felt about my c-section. I had a complete placenta previa with my 1st daughter. I understood the reasoning of the section, I planned for it, I prayed for a healthy baby. With my second, I was still young - 22 yrs - explained in depth to my OB how important a non-medicated, lady partsl birth was to me, how I had read every book I could find, how I studied the different methods, how this experience was a "rite of passage" for me. I was young, I was naive, I thought Dr's knew everything and I was completely dis-empowered - fearing to say no". After being on pit (which I was against), I was told after 7 hrs that I would be getting a section. What was being done to my body was against my will - yet I was terrified to fight it. I was never given the option, never given any alternative choices,never empowered to make my own decision. I was victimized. My rights were taken from me, I was drugged and cut open. Yes indeed, I felt raped. I became a Doula to prevent that from happening to any other woman that I could possibly help.

Things are GREAT !!!!!!!! I found my home on the HRP unit and I could not be happier. Long term patients, lots of time to be able to spend with them providing education prior to labor, increasing my skill level, knowing that my care is making a difference and being able to provide the bedside care that I desire. It is a good fit because I can empathize with these mothers as they feel such apprehension, fear, and are on the emotional roller coaster that one endures when you are on bed rest in the unfamiliar surroundings of a hospital away from your loved ones for weeks and months. I personally experienced a high risk pregnancy and spent about 4 months in and out of the hospital on bedrest (complete placenta previa), and delivered a premie myself many years ago. A good place for me to be indeed. The nurses on the unit are like a family and you always have someone to back you up in times of need. Transferring to High Risk Perinatal was a God send. Thank you for asking. I am glad I moved on from L&D and yet can still provide great care for mommies and babies. Katrina

A surrogate mother had just delivered a baby boy for the new parents. The "mother of the baby" called up to check on the surrogate's condition. Unable to release that information, she just had one question of concern - "were they able to repair the ruptured membrane?" I thought we were all going to rupture something because we were laughing so hard on that one..... still makes me smile, even weeks later. :chuckle

The facility, the staff, the pace of the unit, just to name a few. I too LOVE L&D..... but I love L&D in a birthing center atmosphere NOT in an enormous metropolitan hospital where every one is on pit and epidurals. You have to make sure you are at a facility that you are a good match with. Do not give up.... just do your homework so you do not get disappointed. Good luck!!!

You have to train your body and YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. No one thought twice about calling me in the middle of the day, when I certainly would not pick up the phone to dial them at 2am. I have been doing this for only 4 months now and they still do not get it for the most part. Turn your phone off, have a dark room and it works best for me if I go straight to bed as soon as I get home. I also work 3 / 12's. Good luck!

I was shocked when a patient of mine went from 8cm to 4cm. (She had been checked by Dr, myself and another nurse - so she was certainly an 8). I was told that the cervix can swell and that is what makes the dilation regress. Atleast in her situation that was the case.

Well, I made the change, I transferred up to High Risk Perinatal and can I just say I LOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG !!!! I should have done that long ago. It is everything I wanted, time with the patients to give patient education, a much more calm pace, Still involved with OB aspect of nursing, ability to make a positive difference in pt experience, all of the nurses on the unit are sooooooo nice!!!!! I actually enjoy going to work again!!!!!!!! Best change I ever made!!!!

Thank you soooo much for your response. I have actually been out of work for 3 weeks now - had 2 unexpected surguries of my own. I spoke with my boss and she is planning for me to shadow a nurse in HRP when I return to work. I think that will be a good place for me to transfer to. Thanks Again!!!!!!!! Katrina

i too had my first fetal demise.... a full term beautiful baby girl. mom had a scheduled c-section planned for the very next day - came in early due to decreased fetal movement. it was simply tragic. the cord was wrapped around her little neck twice and very tightly. i have never, in my life, experiencied such tragedy. i have miscarried myself, but the feelings i felt for this family were on a totally different spectrum. i came across this web site just yesterday.... www.aish.com

LMU2009- Sorry to hear of your experience, as I have tried to explain in previous posts... it is all too common. I do not think you can possibly understand until you have experienced it first hand. All you can do is express the concerns and hope they listen. You hit the nail on the head about the grade not making a good nurse. My best friend struggled and struggled to graduate - we were in the same class - I happen to do very well with book stuff and graduated with honors.... who is the better nurse. She is hands down !!!!! I struggle learning new equipment at the hospital and with the hands on stuff. You show her once and she's got it. I am in awe of how good she is. People have different learning styles, the thing is with LMU - the instructors lack in "instructing". I remember all of the BS extra work that really did not apply to what you needed to actually learn. I know numerous students that failed and had to repeat semesters.... felt so bad for them.... we are talking 1/3 to 1 point from making the grade and they failed them.... disbelief really. We always said that the left hand never knew what the right hand was doing. I did my clinicals at Blount, St. Marys (which I did like) and at Peninsula. DJ was a good instructor (psych) the good ones are just few and far between. Oh well..... I wish I would have been warned in advance.

Yes, I graduated a bit ago, but I just heard this about LMU about 2 weeks ago. All I can say is do not go on the statements on their web site. You should check with the state to verify their accredidation before you send your money. They have been under investigation for some time now and they have a long history of students being disgruntled. Just be careful, that is all. I have no doubt that you will do what ever it takes to graduate... I did. Good luck.

I heard LMU lost their accredidation. All I can say is that they lied about their percentage of pass rate. It is very very low. I graduated from there (with honors - no credit to them) and would NEVER advise anyone to attend LMU. They are expensive, and you certainly do not get what you pay for. I advise you to look at other programs

I graduated from LMU and would NEVER recommend it. In fact, I recently heard that LMU lost their accredidation. They are very disorganized, terribly expensive, and instruction is less than desirable. I passed boards the 1st time with 75 questions, I also graduated with honors but I worked my tail off for it. A large majority of the students failed classes, failed the boards and had an awful experience,

In the births I have attended, usually the dad or the partner is in the water with the mom. When the baby is born, it is then placed on the mothers chest and wrapped in warm, wet blankets

In Tennessee we have 3 birth centers and all of them practice water births. I have attended numerous ones and it has been a beautiful experience every time. Lots of moms choose to labor in the water and then get out at the time of delivery, while others opt to stay in. I have often heard that water is mother natures epidural and I certainly believe it. Even when we labor with moms at home, I get them into the shower or tub, It really seems to reduce the intensity of the pain. I am very surprised that this is not practiced in California!!!!

JWK - I agree with you that the hospital has a great reputation, nor do I disagree with you about the quality of care that is provided to moms. Yes, many moms come back with subsequent pregnancies, as they do in birth centers. If their expectation were met and they were satisfied with the out come, why wouldn't they? If I were having a high risk pregnancy, that is the place where I would want to deliver. However, with that said, not every patient is high risk and needs to receive the interventions and the technology that our system routinely uses. I am not from this city or state and as I had mentioned in my posting, I came into this position with minimal hospital experince in L&D. It is nothing that I could have prepared myself for, as I have never been in a setting this large. It is difficult to imagine it unless you are experiencing it. This posting was not about the hospital, it's reputation or qualifications. It is about my ability to handle it or not with my level of experience. I certainly need to be assured that I can before I am left on my own, for the safety of the mom, the baby and my license. I know how our system works, I know that we have the structure in place for emergency situations and while most nurses have been supportive, there are certainly those that have the sink or swim attitude towards new comers.... I am still simply trying to stay afloat. Again, this was not about the hospital, but about my personal level of comfort and ability to perform the job as required.

I am looking for some insight to being a high risk perinatal nurse. What do you like and dislike about your job? What is your case load? How is it different than L&D (my hospital has seperate units for everything), What are some experiences that you have had, what about skills that I would need? Thank you for your input!!!!

So I have done a lot of thinking and I went to the person over my internship and told her that I was not giving up but that I needed to have options for "Plan B". I do not think PP will be it, since the number of patients will leave me with the same frustrations that I have now. Soooo, I have asked to shadow someone in HRP - High Risk Perinatal. Perhaps I can go up there, get my skills stronger, learn how to manage my time and prioritize and then reapply at a smaller facility in L&D. Thank you all for your wisdom and support. I can not believe how many of you spoke up. Seriously!!!!! It has made such a difference in how I feel!!!!!:redpinkhe

So you do not like the rural hospital that you are at now? I too DESPISE labor.... can not belive that even comes out of my mouth. There is only 1 birthing center in GA and that is 4 hours away. I am considering moving back home though and would try to get back on at the birthing center. I am going to contact the PP unit and see if I can transfer for now. I simply can not live like this for a year... that I know.

Janis... I wonder if your friend and I happen to be employed at the same place???? LOL !!! Sounds like it!!! Can you tell me where she was? I am considering transferring to PP - if they have an opening. I mean, I really do not have much choice. I know me and I know that I can not last in this environment. This experience has tainted so much of what I had aspired for already. I too wanted to eventually become a midwife as well- HA!!!!! Not now!!!!! Heck, I do not ever want to see another baby born at this moment in time. I have to go through my OR and Recovery rotation this coming week and then I think they are putting me onto nights... I have never worked nights before. Well, it is 2:00 in the morning and I have spent all night posting my resume :typing, just trying to find something. Employment is not an option - the bank still wants that darn mortgage payment and they do not really care what a difficult time I am having. The concenus of the responses have helped me so much. I feel validated rather than incompetent. Thank you all sooooooo much!!!!!!:bowingpur I know what I have to do.... I just pray I can find something in time before this orientation is over. Katrina

Thank you so much for your replies. They made me feel better. It is a horrible sinking feeling when you think about all of the time, money and energy that we put into graduating as a nurse.... then to think that I am in the wrong profession. When I was a doula, like I said, I worked at a birthing center and I also did numerous deliveries at St. Mary's Hospital. Their LDR unit was all inclusive. Moms delivered and stayed in the same room until discharge. It was wonderful. They did not feel like they were being transferred all over the place, they bonded with the nurses and received wonderful care. This hospital has a different unit for every thing. And you have to be cross trained in everything but PP. That unit is seperate all together. I asked about the PP unit and was told that you have 5 couplets - basically 10 patients (5 mommies/5 babies). To me that is still a lot, but perhaps it would be better than what I am experiencing now. I just wonder how much education time you have for breast feeding, ect with that many patients. How many pts do you both have? It is scary to think that I am suppose to be capable of managing care of high risk patients with numerous complications - from preterm labor to vehicle accidents, pt on insulin pumps and pic lines to epidural pain management, patients on cervadil, cytotec, pitocin, laboring patients, doing deliveries, circulate in the O.R., recover surgery patients, and what feels like a gazillion other things that fall under my realm of responsibility, including the care of the baby for atleast 2 hours until our pt goes up to the PP floor, and caring for the IUFD's and doing all of that paperwork - when I have only been on the floor for 12 weeks. We have 2-3 patients at all times. There are days when I may have 3 plus deliveries. I can not do all of this and feel safe this soon. That is all there is to it. This hospital is known as the baby factory for a reason, I suppose. I have to do something, I just do not feel that staying is an option. I need medication at this point!!!!!!!!!!! The thing is, I have to make a decision and have another job in 2 weeks. If I leave AFTER my internship is over, then I have to pay back the hospital $5,500.00 for my training. It is in a contract that I had to sign when I accepted the position. Just another wall to get over. I am so thankful you have written me..... :heartbeat I do not feel so alone... or incompetent.

So here it goes.... I was a doula in a birthing center for 6 yrs, labor and delivery was my passion... my calling. I went to nursing school only because I wanted to be a L&D nurse. (I do not like anything not pertaining to mommy/baby). I graduated from school and worked for the state as an RN until I finally landed a RN position in L&D and began my internship program May 1st. This position that I landed is at the largest L&D in the entire NATION. We deliver average - 80 babies per day, if that gives you any idea. To work in L&D you have to work LDR, LH, OR as a circulator and in recovery. So here we are into July. I have come home crying more than not, I have gone to work crying more than not. I am lost. This was nothing like I thought it was going to be. It is like hearding cattle, get 'em in, get 'em delivered and get 'em upstairs so we can fill this empty bed with another warm body. This is nothing like the experiences of working at a birthing center and I have no hospital experience so I am like a new nurse. I had to start from the bottom up building my skills - learning every thing from IV's and injections all the way up. I am having diffilculty in several areas - time management, prioritizing and accepting all of these interventions that I feel so conflicted about. I am expected to be off orientation in 2 more weeks. I know I will not be ready. I walk in to work every day praying for 2 things - that I will not have a delivery and that I will not have a IUFD. I hate births at this point, everything about this "miracle" has been tainted by my experiences since coming to work at this hospital. It is very fast paced, full of interventions, and you have no time to "bond with or labor" your patients. So.... I feel like my world is falling apart. This was the only reason I became a nurse at all.... Should I try to transfer to HRP or one of the post partum units? Is it like this at all of the hospitals or just this one???? I can not belive this has happend.... I am lost, fearful, disappointed... in myself and this experience. Please.... any advice?????

This is my first time on the forum. I think the posts I have read are great. My question is: How do you go about becoming a self employed private duty nurse and getting clients? Currently I am an RN in Georgia. Thanks! Katrina