chrys_jenae

Thanks for the responses! Sounds like many units have at least 2 OB nurses in house. Does anyone know if this is an AWHONN or ACOG standard? Or is this just good simple logic?

i work in a rural setting. our unit has about 150 deliveries/year. we currently will work med/surg, er, etc. if we have no patients and have 1 OB nurse on during a delivery. an RT attends each delivery but we are it for our unit for the entire time until then, no CNA, no one to answer phones, etc. we are looking at becoming a designated ob unit and are trying to figure out what that looks like. what will we do during our down time with there is no one in labor or pp pt? i would love suggestions from other nurses of like units and how they stay "active" during their down time, as we organize our ideas to bring to our management. also, the general theme amongst our staff if the safety concern with having only 1 nurse present for the intra-partum period. it would be nice to have an extra set of hands in case of an emergency such as a dystocia, pp hemorrhage, neonatal resuscitation, etc. but do you always staff 2 nurses for the "just in case"? some have mentioned that is either an AWHONN or ACOG guideline-to always have 2 OB nurses available, but i can't find the specific recommendation. any help/suggestions would be very much appreciated!