BarbNY

Thank you so much for your reply!! I would love to share some additional information but a little bit uncomfortable about doing so publicly. Could I e-mail you directly? Thanks again, B

Hello all - I would so much appreciate input from any of you working on a postpartum or mother-baby unit. Although I'm a bit older, I graduated last year and have been working on a postpartum/mother-baby unit since the fall. I really love the work with patients but I'm so disenchanted with some of the things that go on in the unit but because of lack of experience, don't really know if these problems are common or not. Please help! 1) Staffing ratios A full load on my floor is considered 6 couplets. It's extremely rare to get through an entire shift having 5 or less. Not uncommon to wind up with 7 before the night is over or early in the shift before they can get someone else to come in. Is this the norm out there? 2) PCA's I don't know if that is what they are called everywhere but at my hospital, PCA's do vitals, bloods (can draw on mommy and do heel sticks on babies), keep drawers stocked with diapers, sanitary napkins, etc, keep water pitchers full, do peri-care, assist with first time ambulation, empty foleys - you get the picture) If fully staffed, they usually have about 10 patients/rooms. In my hospital/experience, as a whole, their work ethic and attitude stinks! A night never goes by without doing a lot of the above work at some point ourselves. 3) Covering breaks Our unit has 2 sides and the nursery so people are always moving around/leaving the floor to cover somewhere else for breaks. So, what may seem like an adequate staffing ratio is often deceiving because there is so much time, especially between 12 and 5 am that nurses and pca's are either on break, or elsewhere covering someone elses break. So for example, if we have 3 nurses on 1 side with 18 patients, there's often a time period where 1 nurse is in the nursery covering a break and the other nurse is on her own break leaving only 1 nurse on the floor with those 18 patients. By the way, although most of the patients are either postpartum or c-sections, we also have antepartums on my floor. In my opinion, this is not safe! 4) Breaks The nurses work 12 1/2 hour shifts and the PCA's work approximately 8 hour shifts. I'm not saying that this is what is "legally" alloted but the nurses and the PCA's alike take 2 hour nap breaks. It's the way they have been doing it for many years on this floor. Because we are so busy in the early part of the shift, all of these breaks happen between 12 am and 5 am. Starting to see the problem? There's a skeleton crew during these hours and as we all know, babies come when they are ready! So, it's especially problematic getting admissions during these hours. Not to mention that the phones could be ringing, the doorbell ringing (it's a locked unit) and call bells could be ringing and if we're in a patient room or running around, there's no one to respond. There is just no support. Please... if anyone could give me some input on if any of these issues sound familiar or common I would be greatly appreciative. My stress level at work is over the top! Thanks!