Re: Professional membership

[Guest guest]

You should join AWHONN-their journals are worth their weight in gold and like you mentioned, they set the standards in our work. I also belong to NANN and ANN.

What is MOREOB???

Gail Neuman RNC SNP CPHW

Perinatal education

listowner of LegalNurseConsulting

certified high risk OB/legal consultant

Perinatal Nurse Associates

Tustin, CA

[Guest guest]

This sounds similar to our unit, but we only keep 2 nurses on the

unit on night shift, so it gets hectic with trying to prep the

patient, call in the necessary people, and open the OR.

And now Admin. is playing with the idea of pulling one of the nurses

upstairs to the Med/Surg unit to take patients during slow times and

leaving the other nurse on the OB unit by herself.

> In

> We have several RN's on each shift who scrub, and all of us can

open the OR

> in an emergency.(even if we just open and dump packages on the

table and grab

> the things they may need like IV fluids) One reason we can do that

is after

> each c/s the scrub person pulls all the things needed for a c/s and

places the

> wrapped trays, etc in the OR on the tables and dresses the or bed

so all we

> have to do is open and go.The only time anesthesia is in house

during the night

> is if they have an epidural in place or they just happen to be in

the main OR

> with an emergency. Usually they arrive before the OB does. We have

our own OR

> on the unit, which saves time, we can also call peds to come in

from

> home....most times they can get here within 20 minutes, so the

nursery and RT can

> handle the baby with help from the ER doc if we need him till the

pedi comes.

> LAurie

[Guest guest]

We're a small unit. We average 15-30 deliveries a month. However, all

it takes is one patient walking through the doors with the 'A' word

to throw everything into a mess.

The problem with pulling one of the nurses is that sometimes she will

be required to take patients. Well, in my book that turns the OB

nurse into a M/S nurse for the night and gives her responsibilities

on that unit. Admin's solution to that problem is to call the on-call

OB nurse in if the OB unit gets busy. Needless to say, that idea is

raising sand with folks. Admin doesn't seem to get it that we've

already worked 4 12-hour shifts, and now we have to come in for

another shift just so the M/S unit can be staffed. *shakes head in

frustration*

Another problem (aside from the obvious potential danger to the

patients) is that the OB unit is completely secluded from other parts

of the hospital. Our unit does not have locks on the door to provide

limited access, so safety is a real concern, especially if there will

only be one person alone there.

Kara

> Kara, how many del. do you have a month?

> LAurie