What do u do when there are no mothers/babies in unit?

wanderlustRN24 · May 11, 2012

When I was in nursing school a few years ago & did clinicals in L&D, there were no mothers/babies for a few days & the nurses were literally sitting around reading the latest Twilight novel at the time & crocheting socks, including the charge! They had to be there in case an emergency delivery walked through the door but, man, it was laid back and nice. Since working telemetry for 3 years now, I have never had one single day where we had a break like that. Not to say it's a bad thing, I like knowing I will get full time hours each week plus overtime if I want. Nurses in specialties like that get called off all the time when census is low. I like using my PTO and extra $$ for actual vacation, not for getting called off work. But you can be assured there are some crazy days in L&D, too, just maybe not like floor nursing.

wanderlustRN24 · May 11, 2012

Also, want to add to my comment above, that that was from the perspective of when I was a student and only a few days at clinicals. I have no idea what goes on in L&D on a daily basis & maybe those nurses reading & crocheting was a fluke thing during that time. Many times outsiders' perspective is totally wrong- like how some patients think im surfing the internet all day when im actually computer charting! I dont want to offend any L&D nurses out there, nursing is a tough job no matter what field you are in!

FlyingScot, RN · May 11, 2012

Good save!

carrie_c · May 12, 2012

There are ALWAYS mothers and babies on my floor. But I work in a very busy place, where everyone wants to come and have their baby. We have 25 rooms, and they stay full most of the time. The only night we might have slow is sundays, and sometimes saturdays. But even those days we have some patients. We rarely get called off. We also have to take 3 calls shifts in a 6 week schedule, and more times than not we are called in. I would love to have some down time to read or sew, lol. Is there a bigger hospital closer to you? Maybe you could find somewhere more popular. It seems the hospitals that do labor, delivery, recovey in the same room are the most popular. (This is what we do at my hospital).

Casey, RN · May 12, 2012

That would never happen on our unit!! We deliver over 3,000 babies a year!! We also end up working most of our call days.

nursingstudent3109 · May 12, 2012

I wish I lived closer to a large hospital. Unfortunately, it's 300 miles to the closest "fairly large" hospital. Oh, well, there's always relocation maybe!

NurseNora, BSN, RN · May 12, 2012

We keep 2 RN in house for L&D at all times. When there are no patients there are always chores to be done: make up charts, check sterile supplies for outdated, make sure everything is stocked, stay ip to date on the mandatory education modules. Yes, knit and crochet, read and chat, but the other stuff first.

carrie_c · May 12, 2012

That would never happen on our unit!! We deliver over 3,000 babies a year!! We also end up working most of our call days.

So do we! I pray for slow nights! lol!

melmarie23, MSN, RN · May 12, 2012

we are not a large hospital, but we do on average 100 births a month. So, as long as I've been there, we've had yet to have a night with no mom-baby couplets. We've definitely have had slow nights and either we get called off, or float to the pediatric unit. If we are slow as well, we will get surgical patients (usually gyn surgicals) to handle overflow from other units.