As a new practicing nurse I am trying to put learning into practice. Everything that I have read tells me that numerous lady partsl exams are not neccessary and can indeed be dangerous....especially to a pt who is ruptured. I would like to be able to pay attention to a woman's body and outward signs that she is prgressing and keep lady partsl exams to minimum.
Most of our docs like their patients checked q2 hrs. I am somewhat OK with this but will usually stretch this to 2.5-3 hrs for the ruptured pt. However, the chief of OB at our hospital is an ex military doc who insists that all of his pts. be checked every hour ruptured or not. He is VERY quick to cut for failure to progress and very pt UNFRIENDLY.
OK fine..... put here is my problem..... the other night my charge nurse was telling me of this doctors preference. I told her that I didn't agree with it and that it was not in the orders. She said "well it's gonna be you who's gonna get chewed out" I said Yeah and it's also me whose name is signing that chart that I checked this patient every hour for no reason and without an order."
She said, "well nothing like that would ever go to court". I said, "If this lady gets an infection and something happens to her or her baby it could very well go to court. I will be happy to check her every hour if there is an order but otherwise I don't feel comfortable doing that"..... Luckily this lady progressed quickly and it wasn't an issue..... but what do you guys do? Is there a policy in place where you guys are?
