moon25

Renee75: what state do you work in? I thought with the nursing shortage, it would be pretty easy for nurses to find work. I have only really been at one hospital since graduating nursing school, and have never really had to go job hunting, so let me know if I am wrong.

Geez, i thought i had it bad!!

good for you, i remember that feeling 3 years ago, because like you i had no idea how i did. congratulations!!!! :smiley_aa

an IUPC stands for intrauterine pressure catheter, it is placed inside uterus and gives accurate measurements of uterine resting tone after contractions and also tells us accurately what a contractions intensity is. Most times we use external monitors placed on the belly, but they are not used to determine intensity or resting tone, they basically only tell us when pt is having contraction. then we feel the belly to see if it is relaxing between contractions. At my hospital we on we go all the way up to 30 mu without an IUPCall the time, we really only place one if pt is having recurrent decels and we want to determine for sure if they are really late decels, we may also place them if we have trouble monitoring contractions with an external monitor (this is usually with or larger pts). usally when we place them the pt is at least 4cm dilated and in active labor to decrease length of time iupc is in uterus thus decreasing risk of infection, was this nulliparous woman in labor. This doc does sound like a real jerk though, i've never heard of a "nurse induced fever"

At my hospital on L&D we are required to do 20 hours of on call if you are full time and 12 hours if you are part time for every scheduling period. our scheduling period is divided into 4 wks which may be from say june 9 to july 7. It seems as if you are called in at least 95% of the time. I am wondering if this is the standard of practice for L&D in all hospitals or is it only unique to some? I find this practice quite annoying

thanks for your input, i will certainly look for that book.

Well, I guess it depends on the facility and how busy it gets on nights. I think for a new grad it might be better to start out on day shift, not that you can't learn on nights but the training is usually better on days due to the simple fact that it is busier, more is going on for you to learn from. If it is possible for you to orientate on days and then move to nights once your training is better, try that. that way you get a feel for both shifts. I was trained on day shift, then moved to nights. After experiencing the two, I realized that i am a night shift girl and have been working nights ever since.

I don't know if I have rotten luck or if i'm just in the wrong field. I've been an OB nurse for about 2 yrs now. I started right out of nursing school. It seems as if everytime I start to feel like i'm beginning to function like a real nurse, something happens to knock me down on my butt. about a year ago after taking care of a pt in ob-pacu, she was stable, but she was to remain on pulse ox for an additional 12 hrs. Her baby was in the NICU and she had not had a chance to see him yet. So after giving report to the nurse that was to assume care in on the postpartum floor, i took her (on a stretcher) to see her newborn. I told her to call when she was ready to leave. I told the nurse who was going to assume care, that she was in NICU and since i currently had no pt's I would be glad to transport her to the room when pt was ready to leave and to call me. the nurse said ok. I assumed that my role as caregiver was over and I would only be acting as transporter. well i got a pt, and became very busy. 10 hours later the NICU called to say the pt is still there. I was written up, I accepted responsibility, according to nurse manager although I gave report the pt was my responsibility till she was physically transported to new nurse. I moved on. several wks ago, an md (who has never liked me)- complains about me because i told him that a fhr variable decel was positional and happened right after lady partsl exam, so pt was flat on her back. so he complains to nurse manager because the pt told him the decel occured several mins after V.E. not right after like I said. Now never mind that it was only one variable lasting about 60 secs and never re-curred after pt was repositioned, and the strip was beautifully reactive for the entire time she was being monitored - the nurse manager complies and requested that i be reprimanded without even discussing the situation with me. He ended up sectioning someone less than 36 wks with premature contractions, without attempting to stop contractions and with a beautiful strip because the pt had a Bad feeling, needless to say baby ended up with problems. though I do not feel like i was wrong in this scenario, it is still a black cloud hanging over me. then just recently after an ultrasound was ordered for a pt for weights and presentation, ultrasound tech gave myself and md who was physically present a verbal report of results. i wrote it down, but i did not then afterward call dictation line to get official radiologist report. so offcourse baby had undiagnosed problem that was traumatized during lady partsl delivery and required immediate surgery. I accept responsibility, because usually i will call to get dictated results so I may give md report, but this time since ob was already there and got results himself, it was an oversight not to call dictation line. I am wondering, are these obstacles that nurses meet from time to time that we must learn from and move on. Or is there something wrong with me, am i not in the right field or do I need some serious retraining. what do you guys think. these things hit me hard and significantly decreases my confidence. I don't know what to think of myself anymore as a nursing professional..... sorry for the long thread.