March 24, 2009

Nurse Fantasy Land

In a perfect world, we would never be short-staffed. There would always be enough nurses so that you could do one-on-one labor support for each mom, and you had plenty of time for teaching. Gone are the days of juggling 3 labor patients. Charting would be minimal, as each nurse is equipped with a device that electronically(magically) charts every intervention that is done/heart tones/etc as it is being done, automatically. No more staying after your shift for an hour, looking at strips and charting - it's already done as you go! (Man, wouldn't that be wonderful!). Decisions about how patient care would be carried out would be made by people who actually are at the bedside...not people who haven't done patient care for decades, or ever. There would always be working equipment that was easy to use. Patient scanning devices for medications/labs/etc., would be user friendly. Call lights would become unnecessary because you would have plenty of time to care for your patient and so you are able to anticipate her needs. All members of the healthcare team: Nurses, Techs, Doctors, etc., would all treat each other with respect that everyone deserves. Communication would be exceptional. No one would ever feel left out of the loop or show up at work and find that something has changed without warning. Leadership would actually listen to the staff, value their opinions and run the unit/hospital/etc well. In OB, there would not be elective inductions - those patients would go into labor on their own and progress as nature intended. No continuous monitoring for healthy mama's, and in those who need continuous monitoring, there is an abdominal girdle that picks up baby constantly, regardless of movement and position. So, no need for internal fetal monitors. There would always be an OB and anesthesiologist in house for those emergencies(I know some hospitals have this, but mine does not). C-sections would only be done if there really was a need and VBAC's would be the norm instead of repeat c-sections. Medical inductions would be successful and episiotomies would be a thing of the past. Every breastfed baby would come out of the womb and latch right on. Aaaahhh, a nurse can dream, can't she!?

8 comments:

sara said...

We really need to make this place, huh?

Jennifer (Niffer) said...

tell me when you find it!

Joy@WDDCH said...

What was that movie with R.obin W.illiams? Patch? He had a dream and he made his a reality. Perhaps some of your ideas aren't too far off!

I'm having a baby in October and I'd LOVE to have all of this, too, quite honestly. Luckily for my nurses I'm an "easy" patient.

pinky said...

Patients in labor, active labor should have one nurse assigned to only them. Otherwise it gets tricky. I think they should just have a tape recorder set to my mouth so i would not have to write notes. I could just say things while I do them. For example. Turn patient, shut off pitocin, appplied face mask 10l O2, called Doc. Much easier to say and hav it recoreded than having to get into the computer and write it all out.

I would like an early labor holding area. For women who have not changed their cervix but don't want to go home. It could be like a hotel with nice waterfalls and a nice garden. Make the scenery calm and natural. Here we could put cervidil in or cytotec or low dose pitocin over night and they women could be walking around with the telemetry monitors on. They could sit and chat with each other gathering around the lovely gardens and water ponds with fish. It would distract them from labor. They could knit. Or do some other craft to keep them busy. Then when the kick into labor, they could have the choice to go to the labor floor and get an epidural or stay and deliver naturallly. Either way, this could work out well cause the pre labor floor would not require so many nurses and midwifes. What do you guys think?

Anonymous said...

I thought of the girdle thingy for monitoring. I've had 6 babies, and those dang things slip sometimes and the nurse might think there is a decel when it's actually getting my heartbeat...or they want me to stay still so they can get baby on the monitor. Ugh. Some sort of girdle or like with the heart things make it thinner and it would stick on the tummy but not be noticed so much...

sara said...

If you have a chance....I'm looking for other's experiences with vasa previa. Thought as a fellow L & D nurse you might have some insight. Please stop by and share if you get a chance, or just pass our story along....thanks again

AtYourCervix said...

Pinky I like the way you think!!

Jen said...

You are awesome!!!!!! Now if only you could get all hospitals to run this way...sigh. Dreaming is fun, ain't it?