"Pit to distress"

[lauriepat, ASN, RN]

Hi everyone,

I am an lpn in rn school. I was in mother baby clincals a few weeks ago, and i never heard the words "pit to distress" at the hospital i was at however i have heard it's common practice there..

Is it like a forbidden thing in l&d? Does it happen at your hospital?

Opinions?

I know every hospital/area is totally different and doctors practice differently, i'm just curious to see what you guys think/know :)

[IrishIzCPNP, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

Hi everyone I am an lpn in rn school. I was in mother baby clincals a few weeks ago, and i never heard the words "pit to distress" at the hospital i was at however i have heard it's common practice there.. Is it like a forbidden thing in l&d? Does it happen at your hospital? Opinions? I know every hospital/area is totally different and doctors practice differently, i'm just curious to see what you guys think/know :)[/quote']

It happens. Depends on the doctor and where you work. Now...doesn't mean you are told "put to distress" but there are some where you just know that's the plan. So may not be said...but is done.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Right, it's kind of an unspoken thing. Doctors certainly aren't going to SAY that's what they want you to do, but when they're calling back two hours later for an update and asking what the Pit is at and doing mental calculations and asking why the Pit is only at 8 when it should be at 14 by now?? Some docs expect you to just continue to go up on the Pit until there is a reason NOT to...i.e Pit to distress.

It's a horrible way to practice, and thankfully, more docs that are coming out of residencies now are being taught through evidence-based practice that low dose Pit works just as well, with fewer adverse effects.

As far as it being common - it was common at the hospital where I first worked in L&D and worked for the first 4 years of my career. Then I started working at a University teaching hospital that had several large midwifery practices as well, and it was pretty unusual to hear about Pit having to go into the teens. There was a lot of low-dose Pit used there, and they were very big on using *just* enough to put her into a good labor pattern. I NEVER saw Pit in the 30s in the 2+ years I worked there, where it was routine to see Pit in the 30s at the first hospital I worked at.

[dariah]

I've heard doctors try to get me restart or up the pit and say "the baby needs to declare itself" meaning, if we can say the baby can't tolerate labor then we can just call a section.