What are the job duties in a antipartum units in a hospital

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i was just wondering what exactly do nurses have to do in antipartum unit in a hospital? i'm just trying find out what all do baby nurses do and to decide what i want to get into.:)

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.

hehehe...I might point out that antipartum would be an abortion clinic.;)

antEpartum, however, is high risk/acute OB. It's where I work, and I like it there. I take care of a lot of PTLs (on Mag or not), Pre Eclamptics (on mag or not), gestational diabetics, PPROMs (preterm premature rupture of membranes), pyelonephritis, drug abusers, and some TOPs (those electing or having to undergo an abortion or delivery of a dead fetus)--both pre-op and post op (or pre procedure/post procedure--depending on what they're having done).

We also sometimes get an overflow from mother/baby if they're full and we have beds. But only the mom can stay with us--baby can only visit.

FWIW, I'd feel very silly calling myself a baby nurse. Maybe I'm more of a mama nurse? Or fetus nurse? lol. "Baby nurses" I would think, work primarily in the newborn nursery and/or NICU or stepdown.

Best Wishes

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If you're wondering about "baby nurses," perhaps you're wondering about POSTpartum, which refers to the period after the birth.

I work in postpartum and enjoy it very much. We get the mother/baby couplets on the floor 1-3 hours after the birth, with the longer times being for c-sections

We monitor the physical condition of the moms and babies, do a lot of teaching about well baby care, assist moms with learning to breastfeed, take care of babies in the nursery when moms are exhausted, and help the new family--dads and sibs included--to bond with their newest member. If a mom or a baby starts to have problems, we monitor them closely until they stabilize or are moved to another unit.

I generally take care of four mother/baby pairs but the numbers vary. Occasionally when we have a float from another floor who is not certified in neonatal resuscitation, she will have eight moms and her counterpart will have eight babies.

It's a wonderful unit to work on if you like things a little less intense than critical care and you can't always manage the heavy lifting of, say, ortho or med/surg. It's also great if you like to do lots of teaching. There are frustrations, to be sure, but overall, they are manageable. Most of my patients are appreciative of the care and knowledge I give to them

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.

rn/writer

Judging by this thread and the OP's other posts, I think she may consider "baby nurses" to encompass all of OB nursing. I personally don't, but heh-whatever makes you happy, lol.

In my hospital, I wouldn't even consider most PP nurses to be baby nurses, because they care for the woman mostly. We have separate NN nurses.

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Specializes in MCH, L&D.

I work on postpartum asan Lpn. We recently had antepartum moved onto our floor. So we are now responsible for mothers/babies, and the antepartum pt's. It's a lot of work. I love what I do.

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.

It is completely inappropriate to have ante on the same unit as PP....

The last thing a mother with an incompetant cervix, premature labor or one who has already lost her baby needs to hear is a hungry little "Laaaaaa! Laaaaaahh!" of a 2 day old.

:angryfire

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I am sorry to disagree with the above post but: IMO, It is not inappropriate in certain units! In smaller community hospitals, where LDRP (labor/delivery/recovery/postpartum) patients are cared for all on one floor, this is very common to have ante's and postpartum patients on that same floor. We usually try to make sure the patients experiencing the tragedy of stillbirth or loss are further from the nursery and rooms where moms/babies are staying.

And, consider, in many hospitals, OB nurses are uniquely qualified to help families cope with the loss of a pregnancy and/or newborn baby. Not always true on Med-surge units or other places, even some antepartum units. It just depends on the experience of the nurses and staffing ratios of a given hospital/OB unit.

Also, particularly this will depend on the size and composition of the Ob unit. (especially if the unit is an LDRP unit).

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My previous job was on a High-risk antepartum/GYN surgical floor. We did postpartum care for the high-risk moms and any whose babies went to NICU/PCN. We also cared for the fetal demise patients and and postpartum overflow if the postpartum unit filled up. Duties ranged from doing fetal monitoring and anticipatory teaching for our moms-to-be on bedrest to teaching about breastfeeding and baby care for our postpartum moms. Surgical patients can always keep you busy with a variety of post-op issues.

As far as the issue of where the fetal demise patients goes - I believe that it CAN BE appropriate to put these patients with new moms, but in most cases the parents will opt not to be around babies. Everyone deals with their grief in a different way. My wife and I lost our beautiful little girl at 38 weeks and we were herded off to a corner of the women's surgical unit. We were treated like lepers. It was like pulling teeth just to get pain meds. What isn't appropriate is for hospitals, nurses, and physicians to preemptively decide what IS or ISN'T appropriate for the emotional health of our patients. Let the patient say what they want. In most cases it's reasonable to accomodate their wishes.

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.
My previous job was on a High-risk antepartum/GYN surgical floor. We did postpartum care for the high-risk moms and any whose babies went to NICU/PCN. We also cared for the fetal demise patients and and postpartum overflow if the postpartum unit filled up. Duties ranged from doing fetal monitoring and anticipatory teaching for our moms-to-be on bedrest to teaching about breastfeeding and baby care for our postpartum moms. Surgical patients can always keep you busy with a variety of post-op issues.

As far as the issue of where the fetal demise patients goes - I believe that it CAN BE appropriate to put these patients with new moms, but in most cases the parents will opt not to be around babies. Everyone deals with their grief in a different way. My wife and I lost our beautiful little girl at 38 weeks and we were herded off to a corner of the women's surgical unit. We were treated like lepers. It was like pulling teeth just to get pain meds. What isn't appropriate is for hospitals, nurses, and physicians to preemptively decide what IS or ISN'T appropriate for the emotional health of our patients. Let the patient say what they want. In most cases it's reasonable to accomodate their wishes.

I'm sorry for the loss of your daughter, and I'm sorry that you were placed in a surgical unit. At the hospital I work at, PP moms with an IUFD/stillbirth/infant loss are given the option of coming to ante if we have the beds, or going to the surgical floor. Many of those patients have had prior "issues" with their pregnancy and thus have stayed on antepartum previously, and so they opt to come back, as they know the unit, they know the staff, etc. If ante is full, then they are usually sent to the GYN/surgical floor. PP unfortunately is usually very busy and they like to save the space for women who's babies are in the nursery (that might sound harsh, I realize. Even NICU moms are sometimes diverted to ante so that PP has a bed for a NN mom)

I have a *max* of 6 patients--which my load has been lately, but usually I have 3-4. The PPs here get a lot more individualized attention from the nurses than they would on the PP unit or the GYN/surg floors. That means in general--more emotional support, quicker response to call bells, quicker dosing of pain/anti-anxiety meds, more time for patient education, etc.

Our ante nurses get the same training in grief, death and loss as do the L&D nurses. Some ante nurses are AMAZING with a greiving mother. Some L&D nurses are aweful. Some ante nurses are AWFUL, and some L&D nurses are amazing. It's a mixed bag. The ante nurses take care of the patients once their childs death has sunk in. We're the ones that take the parents to the morgue to hold their baby's body. We're the ones who take them to the Childrens and Babies Memorial Garden (that ante and NICU spearheaded, btw). We're the ones that sit with them for 2 hours and explain again that it wasn't their fault, there was nothing they could have done, and hold them when they cry. We evaluated them if they need a social work consult or nurse/psych liason. We talk with the siblings of the baby, the grandparents, the mother's best friend (all of whom were not even allowed on the L&D unit). L&D has to transfer their PPs no more than 2 hours after the baby is born for a lady partsl delivery. If it was a planned TOP or induction for IUFD, the person already spent at least 12 hours on our unit for the cervidil/laminaria/cytotec and are transported for L&D for the pit. About half of our ante nurses are former L&D nurses if that matters to you.

And, consider, in many hospitals, OB nurses are uniquely qualified to help families cope with the loss of a pregnancy and/or newborn baby. Not always true on Med-surge units or other places, even some antepartum units.

For the record, ante nurses are OB nurses. Thanks.

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I am looking for some guidelines that facilities use for their high risk antepartum units. We are currently in the process of changing our unit to strictly high risk antepartum. What are your staffing ratios/ how are you staffed? Training? What is your criteria for admitting the patient to high risk ante vs L & D? How do you handle transports? Any help would greatly be appreciated. :confused: :idea:

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.

nursing, maybe you'd like to start a new thread?

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