lisababyrn

As an OB educator and childbirth instructor I say Yes, going to a childbirth class is great! It will give you a better basic understanding of what pts are hearing, but also knowledge just from the experiences of the educator. Which is something you may not have received much of in nursing school. I took childbirth classes even though I taught them too. Just hearing things from anothers point view or teaching style was useful. Good luck. Many Happy Births!!

I work in a very small hospital. (100 deleveries/year) Yes I said year. Up until a couple of years ago we staffed with only one RN and called supervisor for delivery!! :omy: (I know, YIKES) Now we have one RN and one LPN for pt in active labor and at least 3cm. If pt not active our scheduled LPN gets pulled to med surg. By law we have to have both nurses in OB continuosly if have mom and babe. This was very hard to get used to as I came form much bigger hospitals. We are able to call on our house supervisor if needed (and available). Oh, I am a noc nurse so of course its always the skeleton crew.We are trying to stop the "pulling" of our LPN's but its such a cultural change for this facility. They still think we could do it with one nurse before we should be able to do it now. Granted we are a low risk level one hospital but we do have our share of scary situations. I will have to say I was surprised at how fast everyone worked together( ER paramedics, supervisor, surgery etc.) So that is what helps me, knowing who my other supports are even if not OB nurses. Also implementing our OB hemorrhage code and involving rest of hospital in that has helped. So I guess I don't feel quite as alone. I also know how long it takes for everyone to get to hospital which is generally 5-8 min. At times we call on non-scheduled OB Rn's to help especially if have more than one labor pt.( Sorry so long of reply, I get kind-of wordie:nuke:)

We follow the "Guidlines for Perinatal Care, 6th edition" which recommends B/P,P, R, q 15 min x2hours then q 30min x2 then q shift. temp immediately post placenta then q4x2 then qid.