bluemoon28

We were also told that if we didn't report, we could face termination.

I live in Florida and so far it looks like hurricane Irma has a good chance of hitting us. If it does I will be required to stay at work until it blows over. What are some good things to bring with me in my bag beside the obvious like clothes or toiletries? Should I bring a pillow and blanket? They said they would provide sleeping arrangments but didn't mention what those would be. What are some good snacks to take? Our hospital will be providing childcare and pet care, though we are encouraged to make other arrangements if at all possible. I don't have any kids, but I do have a love bird. I live here by myself and don't know anyone here other than co-workers. Should I take her with me or just leave her at home with some food and water and hope I'm not gone too long. Any input is greatly appreciated.

I have worked as a labor and delivery nurse for 3 years and at 2 different hospitals. Yet one thing that seems to be the same is the lying or ommiting of information when it somes to the fetal heart rate tracing. Now I'm not talking about completely omitting all information about a bad tracing especially if you think your pt may end up in the OR for a c-section. I'm refering to minor lates, a variable here and there, or or simply a sleepy cycle of minimal variability that's lasted a little too long. So most nurses (this is what I was taught to do) will just come up with excuses for minor interventions. Like if the pt needs to be on her side they might say they've been in the same position for too long, or even ask if the pt wants to change position making it seem like it was their idea. I've also seen nurses say that they're worried the pt may be dehydrated so they can give a bolus. If the strip starts to get really bad of course they will tell the pt. I have even had doctor's get after me when they find out I told the pt they were having decels. Now I can see the pros and cons of borh sides. On one hand you want the pt to be informed and know what is going on in their care. On the other hand if you're strip really isn't that bad or if you just want to see some acels before placing cytotec or starting pit. It can really cause some problems in the room. Pts get anxious and worried, mhr goes up, pts already here for high bps have their blood pressures go up to unsafe levels, all over something that I wasn't really that worried about to begin with. However the worst part is not the pt but rather the family members that can start yelling at you about it, or start demanding a c-section. Some pts family members have even gotten combative in the past. Now I know why they can act this way there is a lot of stress and worry that goes into l&d and so many expectations, or previous bad outcome (stillbirth,miscarriages, baby in NICU, a friend of a cousin who end up mentally handicapped due to something at birth). Now I had tried to explain the fh tracing to family member and sometimes it helps but more often then not it just raises more questions and leaves you practically trying to give an intermediate fm class in the room. I know most nurses response to family members watching the tracing like a hawk is to tell them that it is the nurses job to watch the tracing. Is this the right way to go? I don't want to worry new parents and family members especially if what is going on is not major, because it just leaves them anxious instead of enjoying the beautiful experience. Most pts especially inductions (which we do a lot of) will have some form of decel before they deliver, and a good chunk of them will deliver lady partslly without complications. So I ask is this common in a lot of hospitals? Where do you draw the line of what to tell parents. If the issue is minor and easily corrected is it worth omitting information to keep the parents piece of mind if you can? Now please understand that this omitting of information does not mean all information is omitted. Is the problem is very severe or the pt needs oxygen, or the doctors is being called, or it seems like we might be headed for a c-section then definitely all the nurses would make sure the pt is well informed. I would really like to hear peoples opinion on this and what is common at other hospitals as I have only work at 2 and they both have done this with full encouragement of the doctors.

I said the same thing to my coworkers. That it seemed to be more of a benevolent thing, but they are not convinced. Some of our more religious staff say that you shouldn't even look at it because it would give some sort of bad luck.

I wasn't sure where to put this so I decided to put it here. I work at a women's hospital in labor and delivey. In the last three weeks or so many of our staff have seen food left out side. Which did not seem all that odd by itself but it happens almost every night and it is not eaten. The food is left at the four corners of the hospital. The food ranges from apples, mangos, watermelon, cake, and dounts. Sometime there are also roses. Most people seem to think it's some sort of black magic or voodoo. I live near the mexican border and we have a large hispanic population so a lot of my coworkers are rather superstitious. They seem to think someone is trying to curse us or the hospital itself. I don't think this is the case, though I suppse it's possible that someone could be doing it with good intentions like how people put a person's favorite foods on an alter for Dia De Los Muertos. My question is have any of you encountered anything like this at your hospital before or have any idea what kind of ritual this might be?