misty1998

Those of you who currently work in L & D and/or newborn nursery as a CNA...can you tell me some of your job duties? I am a CNA in a small rural hospital in L & D and newborn nursery/postpartum..and we are updating our standard..just curious what everyone else is doing out there! Thanks!

If you don't have toothpaste around, we use vicks vapor rub! Its small enough to keep in your pocket and all you have to do is rub a little under your nose and no more stinky smell :) We use it ALOT in OB :)

I work in ob and thank goodness we have locked doors, but that still doesn't help! We have family ringing the annoying door bell constantly, and if we don't answer right away they literally LAY on the bell so it buzzes continously. Or when a G1 "thinks she is in labor" they bring the whole family plus the neighbors with them and get mad when we kick half the room out. I work night shift and luckily the other nurses I work with agree on a 2-3 visitor limit during labor, but then they want to change people all the time. Not too long ago we had a pt come in at night for an induction..she is a G1, and when the nurse checked her she is 1cm and high. she had about 8 ppl with her and they asked for more recliners because they were all spending the night. mind you the pt is only 17 or 18 and 6 out of the 8 ppl are friends. so when we told them they couldn't stay, the went to the car got sleeping bags and pillows and thought they were going to camp out in the lobby...the main lobby. our night nurse supervisor put that to a quit stop!

What I normally do, is when the cuff is inflating, I empty the trashcan,foleys etc. To get respirations I either check the pulse manually and at the same time count resp or when I'm taking their temp I count resp for 15 sec and multiply x 4. I asked pt if they need anything or what they would like for a snack , and I write it down and explain I will be back w/ it in a little bit. If they are diabetic I explain that after the nurse checks their bs I will get their snack. Our medsurg unit is set up in "pods" with 8 rooms in each pod ( except for 2 pods) so once I am done w/ each pod, I chart my vitals and get the snacks or whatever it is they needed.

I work in rural hosp in MO as a PCT ( CNA) and we are allowed to get O2sats along w/ blood sugars, vs, I & O. I work in OB/Nursery, so I'm allowed to do all the above on moms and babes. All my RN's know that I am the first to come get them if something isn't right or if the pt just doesn't look right. Its kind of funny, whenever we get a new RN, the RNs I have worked w/ for yrs always tell them, If ____ yells you better run to find her, because she only yells your name or help if she needs to! Its nice to know that the RNs and LPNs I work w/ trust me.

All of our babies get a bili done day of discharge. We obtain it, while we are getting their PKU. Since they are already poked and bleeding might as well do it. Some of our docs will order one sooner if babe looks jaunice or if + coombs.

our clinics put together a book has answers to common pregnancy questions ( like what otc meds are ok to take, common aches and pains during preg that are normal). you might also include a magnet with the numbers to your clinic and the local ob dept. informational handouts on pregnancy,baby care, community resources, info on childbirth classes. coupons for local maternity shops, baby stuff. lotions and at home spa for mom to be to relax. also include stuff for dad/support person as they are sometimes left out. you might also have a special basket for teen moms or moms of known multiples.

our clinics put together a book has answers to common pregnancy questions ( like what otc meds are ok to take, common aches and pains during preg that are normal). you might also include a magnet with the numbers to your clinic and the local ob dept. informational handouts on pregnancy,baby care, community resources, info on childbirth classes. coupons for local maternity shops, baby stuff. lotions and at home spa for mom to be to relax. also include stuff for dad as they are often left out!

I work in a small rural hosp. During labor we offer FREE doulas for every mom who wants one ( all of the techs are trained doulas). We also give the free formula bags. Patients have told us ( who have delivered elsewhere in the past) that we do more teaching and hands on than other area hospitals. Right now we are looking into giving those sleep bags for babies to each new mom. Our nursing educator found them somewhere and its going to cost us like $5 per bag, which is cheap compared to if you went to walmart or babies r us where they retail at $20 or more, plus those are safer for babies than wrapped in lots of blankets. Our Childbirth classes were free, but we started charging $25 and included is a light snack at each class plus a baby 101 book for the parents to keep.

the hospital i work at, no matter if you work days or nights, on sat and sun you get double time the last 4 hours of your shift if you work your full 12 hours. kind of a nice incentive!

At the hosp I work at, it all depends on why the Pt is 1:1. Usually we are somewhere in the room, how close we stay to the pt depends on if they are a fall risk an/or confused or if they are on suicide precautions. I work night shift, but I know day and night shift is allowed to read, watch tv, work on crossword puzzles etc... Usually its the techs ( CNA's) that sit w/ the pts. The nurses are really good about coming in every 3-4 hours and giving you a short break and of course you get your 30 min meal break also.

In response to the poster above me, at the hospital I work at we do TVH all the time. Our docs try that before TAH. It has a much faster recovery time and less time in the hospital. I would say 99% of our TVH goes home the next day. Most of our abbreviations are the same as yours I was just having a brain dead moment and couldn't think of anymore!

Every hospital is different but here are a few of our abbreviations: FSE: Fetal Scalp Electrode G4 AB1 P2 means she has been pregnant 4 times had 1 miscarriage/abortion and has 2 children, not including the one she is preggo with now BTL: Bilateral Tubal Ligation FF: fundus Firm Pit: Pitocin EFM: electronic fetal monitoring SVE: Sterile Vag Exam 4cm 50%: she is 4 cm dilated, and is 50% thinned out FC: foley cath I can't think of any other ones right now, if I do later I'll post more. Enjoy working in OB its fun for the most part!

I work in a small rural ob dept and i know that most of my coworkers love taking care of fellow coworkers. we are a close unit and most of us socialize outside of work. its great to be there when they deliver their little miracle. usually we are one of the first ones they tell when they are expecting and we are there their entire pregnancy. not saying we don't take great care of other moms and babes but we do give our coworkers extra special treatment and they can rest assured that when they want to rest that their little bundle is getting cuddled and cared for by someone who truely does care about them! I know if/when I have a baby, I will definately deliver at the hosp I work at now.

Wow! I can't believe your doc won't approve your birth plan. I work in a small rural hosp and we have 2 obs and a midwife. 1 of our docs is very much into the "unnatural" ( epidural, pit, arom)but even he has loosened up over time but our other doc and midwife are all about pt comfort and choices. We have hospital based doulas and every pt is offered one. We have a labor tub, birthing ball, and encourage pts to get up and move. Most of our nurses are ok w/ a pt just having a saline lock and depending on the situation, monitoring for 30 min every couple hours. If you are in the tub we dopple every 15 min. We don't have the wireless monitoring system but if you want to be on the ball or rocking chair, we can still monitor you, Might not get a perfect strip but we can still see what baby is doing. Most of our nurses are very much into pt choice and we are a strong advocate for our pts if the situation is right. We just make sure our pts know the benefits and risks and that if something changes for the worse that they will get IV, continous monitor etc.....

A girl I work with did this program. She was already an LPN and got her RN. She is an OB nurse in MO. They sent her all the books and she did some tests online and others she had to go to another city ( about 90 min away) and have her tests proctered at a college. Then she went to Ohio ( I think) and did a 3 or 4 day clinical there, and at the end of that she had a clinical test ( pass or fail). Then she took MO boards. She passed on the first try! I know she really liked it, but said she was glad she had been an LPN for a couple yrs and had clinical experience under her belt. She took the clinicals Spring 2006, took boards in May 2006. She loved Excelsior mainly because she had a family and could still work full time ( 3 12 hour shifts a week) and study. Plus she would have about an hour commute round trip and Excelsior was cheaper in the end.

I got floated to a geripsych unit the other day and it was 1 RN and ME..thats it. For 8 pts 3 of which were wanderers, all were fall risk, 2 of them needed to be 1:1. and the house sup didn't care. i complained to her, made her mad, and i let my boss know. curious when i go back in a few days what the outcome is.:angryfire * and the best part...they didn't have a backup plan if i got pulled back to my home dept!*

It's not considered a holiday at my hospital either. But as a unit we "count" it. We take into consideration who has worked last year and such. Actually we do that for all holidays. Most everyone in our dept is good about rotating. We even try to rotate Mothers Day and Fathers Day.:balloons:

The reason alot of our nurses have to come back to chart is, we don't have central monitoring yet so they have to chart their strips. If you are back that night, you can try to chart then, but if its another crazy night, then you'll just get farther behind. We are a rural hospital, and we are labor/delivery/recovery/postpartum/nursery. At night we are usually staffed w/ 1 rn 1 lpn and 1 tech. we can call someone in if we need more help. Not sure what size hospital the original poster is going to work at, but we average 40 deliveries a month. We also take care of all ob/gyn patients including hysters. If you are pregnant and in the hospital more than likely you will be in our dept unless you are contagious.

Not sure if your hospital allows this, but ours does. We havent gone to central monitor yet...in a couple months we are!!!! anyway, most of our night nurses have to get kids to school, so they leave around 730ish and come back after they take the kids to school and finish charting. We have an awesome manager so that helps to! Generally we are done and out the door no later than 0745 though!

Hello! I work in a small rural hospital and we use the AQUAEZE. We call it "the boat" because it kind of looks like a big boat! It has enough room that dad/support person can get in it if they want. Ours doesnt have jets but it does have a handheld nozzle that you can use w/ varying speeds/streams. Its portable and hooks up fairly easy to the sink in each labor room. Our maintence had to install some hookups, but dont think it was very hard. We can't deliver in the tub ( hospital protocol). We don't seem to have a problem keeping the temp ( about 99-101 i think). Our mom's love it and most request it as soon as they can. If you have anymore questions, ask me or email me!