Question for my fellow RNs of the OB world..

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Just when I think I've heard it all..... last night (I work in an ER) a woman came up to triage, full term, and having contractions, I called up to the L+D unit to give them a heads up and the nurse's response was "is she JUST in labor, or does she have cold sx. because if she does she can't come up here". I thought she was joking but she said no patients w/ cold sx could come to her unit. I asked her "so where does she have to go to give birth then?" (Which did not go over too well) and she replied "she goes to the Peds unit) She then demanded I take her temp. before sending her up.

I've worked in many ER's and have never heard of this policy. Am I missing something here or is this facility wrong?

HK

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

That's a new one on me! If a laboring patient has to be isolated for any reason, it can and should be done on OB. No pregnant mom or new baby belongs on peds, for gosh sakes! There is no germier place! Is germier a word?

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

I'll bet the OB nurse meant "has she got symptoms of a cold AND is pregnant?" Where I work, they send every woman who has EVER missed a period up to us. I'm kind of laughing at this, although I'm sure it wasn't too funny to you. What finally happened?

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Specializes in obstetrics(high risk antepartum, L/D,etc.

I have had all sorts of patients brought to me in "labor" including a 65 year old grandmother with acites! I have, however, cared for hepatitis, chicken pox, all sorts of STDs. and on and on in the Labor and delivery department. I grant that is not the ideal condition for the baby to arrive in, but what is the choice? Many years ago, when a mom delivered outside the delivery room -- yes the delivery room, let alone outside of the hospital--she went to a M/S floor after delivery, and the baby was housed on peds. After all, it was not a "sterile" delivery. That was, however, when Florence and I were the OB nurses. Tell that OB nurse to get a grip, and also to show you the policy to the effect that a laboring patient cannot go to L/D because of symptoms of a cold!

Also, what did happen with this poor mom and her baby?

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Originally posted by tntrn

I'll bet the OB nurse meant "has she got symptoms of a cold AND is pregnant?" Where I work, they send every woman who has EVER missed a period up to us. I'm kind of laughing at this, although I'm sure it wasn't too funny to you. What finally happened?

Same here. We got one the other week, who I swear, must have had a pos HPT that day! She came in for cramping. Well, hello, do you want us to put her on a monitor? :rolleyes:

This week I had a 33 wker, that the ER calmy called up "She has PIH, can you come get her?" After being brought up in a WC by our support tech, I found out her pressure in ER was 255/184!!! :eek: Sometimes I wonder about the folks down in our ER.

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Btw, we had several pg flu pts over the last couple weeks, so I think that nurse must have been misinformed.

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The other day we actually had more "medical" patients with pyleo or flu the other day. Yes we don't really want the flu patients up on the floor but we don't have much of a choice especially if they are in labor.

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Our ER can be a problem, because they will try and send every pregnant patient up to us even if their problem is NOT related to the pregnancy. This is especially a problem with the flu season now. The ER did that to us twice the other night.

We are glad to go down and do an FH but that's it. To bring a really sick patient up to us (who is not laboring) puts all our patiewnts at risk.

That is probably the reason she responded initially as she did.

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Originally posted by L&D_RN_OH

Same here. We got one the other week, who I swear, must have had a pos HPT that day! She came in for cramping. Well, hello, do you want us to put her on a monitor? :rolleyes:

This week I had a 33 wker, that the ER calmy called up "She has PIH, can you come get her?" After being brought up in a WC by our support tech, I found out her pressure in ER was 255/184!!! :eek: Sometimes I wonder about the folks down in our ER.

Oh boy!!! I wasn't trying to start a war of words or point fingers but you guys opened the can of worms!!!!! Love the attitude of OB/GYN nurses about the ER. I've worked in over 30 ER's from 1100 beds to 10 beds. All have strict critea of what goes to the floor and what doesn't. I'm sure that an occasional case goes up that should not have, but just because it happens it doesn't make all ERs or all ER nurses bad nurses. I Seriously doubt the one story about the 65 y.o female w/ ascites, sounds like an urban myth. ALL places that I have worked in you have to call upstairs to give some type of report, and I SERIOUSLY doubt they would ahve said "sure send the 65 y.o. lady up" come on!!!!!!

I could flood this board with stories and attitudes about OB nurses I personally experienced. I won't stoop to that level (unless I see more dumb posts about ER nurses). I would just love to choose and pick the types of patients we get in the ER, but we can't, so show a little respect here, until you walk in our shoes don't start sqwaking about ER nurses.

HK

and yes I have worked L+D

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HK,

I am not speaking of ALL ER nurses, just ours. :p Our ER does NOT triage OB pts, merely call up to the floor and say they are here come get them, so we don't get "report" from them. All pts are told to come through the ER unless they have called their doc and they've told them to come in. In this instance. if they checked the woman's pressure, they really should have relayed that in the message so a nurse could have gone down with the support tech. Luckily, this woman didn't seize in the elevator on the way up.

Sometimes we do have to wonder about them, when they call to say they are starting Mag Sulfate in the ER (totally inappropiate after they bolused an entire 500 cc bag into a pt), then they send us a 12 wker with a chest cold. Or insist we bring them a Doppler to check fht on an 8 wker. :confused: Don't worry. ER has plenty of stupid pt stories to share. Like the ones who come in by squad because they lost their mucous plug, or because it is their due date.:roll

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our er has to do an abc triage and then call ob w/ an abbreviated report -

however last nite ...pt that was overdue by 3 days - contractions - goes up to l/d w/ complaints of contractions, n/v, and low back pain

l/d monitors her then sends her to the ed for the n/v because they felt she had "flu symptoms" - which in reality had to do w/ the fact that she had a uti (which they knew and gave her a script for) and that she was having contractions.......

i called the ob doc - he couldn't believe they did that.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I will preface this with the statement that I have never worked OB but I am an experienced level one trauma nurse. We had a 32 week pregnant trauma patient with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, intubated, invasive lines in place, the whole deal. Anyway - we needed an OB nurse to come down and monitor the baby - that's all they had to do. They whined first of all about us bringing the pt to L&D - I poslitely explained that this pt was tubed, extremely sick and that wasn't a possibility. They became rude, but I was able to wheedle a nurse to come and visit us. Its just ridiculous about this attitude between OB and ER. We both contribute to pt care, just in different ways. However, in the ER (as in OB) we can't just say, "sorry guys, we're full". We have to work together.

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