Published Aug 23, 2007
mary78910
23 Posts
ok i'm a new nurse (6months) been on med/surg for six months, just moved to labor and delivery which is post partum and nursery all in one. i have a few questions. ok yesterday i was brought into a c-section and shown how to circulate, today i get to work and they stick me in a c-section and tell me it's all mine. umm hello lol. i did fairly well, but still freaked me out, yes i had a "preceptor" there but she didn't do or say anything until it was over. is this wrong or am i just being a baby lol. anyway another problem, what all can a pct do? they are not state tested nursing assistants. our pct are in c-sections and vag births and they take vitals on newbors immedialtely an dthroughout their stay. they bathe them, sit with them in nursery transport them to and from nursery. ok i'm an RN and can't sit with a baby in the nursery because i don't have nrp yet, which i understand, but a pct can sit in there with a sick baby and it's ok? seems wrong to me. also we had a c-section and a nurse "cought" the baby started wiping it off and the dad asked if it had a clef pallet because it runs in them family, with her gloves on and blood on them she sticks her finger in the baby's mouth, i almost had a stroke. ok back to the pct thing, ok the pct's do all the care vitals etc but the rn change beds do showers and pericare etc, which doesn't bother me in the least but doesnt this seem backwards oh yeah we also pass lunch trays. i've never seen one weigh table cleaned off after being used, never saw a crib wiped down i'm just kinda freakin out thinking maybe i should go back to med/surg just to be safe lol. oh the pct also do all glucose checks on baby, blood draws, and pku, hearing tests pics etc. is this normal. any advice would be greately appreciated, sorry about all the typos i'm tired :)
Mary
oh and a few more things . i went into the nursery to get a chart, a pct was doing vitals on a baby, i said hows the baby she said fine doing great from where i was at i saw the baby just wasnt right so i got closer, the color was fine, but baby had nasal flaring and retractions so i call the rn "taking care" of baby and showed her, she said oh he's just going through transition, i said it's been 8 hours. the pct said he's been doing this all day he's fine, i said someone needs to get a pulse ox on this baby and call the pediatrician well i was told i was being parranoid i would accept that so i called resp therapist down who took one look at the baby and said this baby needs shipped out. he called the bigger hospital and let them know what was going on they were there within the hour pulse ox done on baby was 88. baby is in other hospital still. just little things like that a pct doesn't pay attention too, i'm so paranoid leaving them in charge of newborns. maybe i'm wrong maybe i need to just back off, but if i would have would that baby have lived? we've shipped probably 8 babies in the last two weeks to a bigger hospital because we don't have an advanced nursery. one of them even had ecoli and staph. and that wasn't caught until almost too late. i just don't feel like enough attention is being payed to the newborns ugggh what to do what to do
woody62, RN
928 Posts
I have not work in OB in years. In fact I haven't worked since November 28, 1988. But here is my advice:
Get the HECK out of there!!!!!!
Woody:balloons:
LOL ok then hehehe
I am serious. If the nursing staff thinks it knows that much or cares that little, you are putting your license and your assessts on the line everytime you go into work. You can be sued and your employer might not necessarily back you up. What you discribed makes me shutter, for you, for the moms and dads and the babies. And I am surprised that none of the doctors have made a complaint. They can be held liable as well.