Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Comparing a Postpartum Nurses/Labor Delivery Nurses to a Registered Nurse”
” One may think that most registered nurses do the same tasks in the medical field.
However, when comparing and contrasting a Postpartum nurse to a registered nurse, you will see they do not have all of the same tasks as the other. I compared the two and found several responsibilities they both have, but there are several they do not have in common.”Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

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” A registered nurse—a RN— has many contrasting responsibilities in the medical field from a Labor and Delivery nurse. Many of them include documenting problems with a patient and giving medicine and IVs. A RN makes sure the patient has knowledge of their situation and what procedures to take to treat their condition and get better. They also observe new CNAs
(certifies nursing assistants) and LPNs (licensed practical nurses) (Alliance). A RN can work in several different medical settings, unlike a Postpartum nurse. They can work in home healthcare, in different wings of the hospital or at schools (Alliance).”
” Contrasting a Labor Delivery nurse to a RN, you will see they have different duties also.
Their duties are more related to the maternity ward, such as, giving the right medication to pregnant women for their pain. However, giving medications is not the only main task a LD nurse has to do. They also have to document the time the baby is born, tend to the newborn after the birth, examine the patient for dilation, and helps the delivery doctor dress in the right uniform to deliver the baby (GHResources). “They are responsible for making sure that the medical as well as the emotional needs of the patient are adequately met throughout the entire birthing process” (GHResources).Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

The postpartum or mother-baby nurse is tasked with caring for both mother and newborn baby once a birth has taken place. This nurse utilizes a strong set of skills to recognize and act upon postpartum emergencies for both patients. The postpartum nurse appreciates a busy working environment and the challenge of quickly detecting complications from childbirth. A large part of this nurse’s job is teaching new mothers how to properly care for herself as well as her newborn after the delivery. Lactation nurses are often postpartum nurses who have become certified.

Becoming a Postpartum Nurse
After the nursing student graduates school and becomes licensed as an RN, he/she is then able to apply for a postpartum nursing position. Working in this specialized area is usually available to new graduate RNs but will require training after hire. This is usually accomplished through didactic, or textbook, learning, as well as working closely with a preceptor to learn how to critically think like a postpartum nurse should. Experienced nurses can also make the switch into postpartum by applying to a hospital or Birthing Center’s listing. At most facilities, at least 1 year of bedside experience is required.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Often, nurses who wish to work in labor/delivery are required to start in postpartum before they are eligible to apply.

What Are the Education Requirements for Postpartum Nurses?
Both ADN and BSN educated nurses are eligible to apply for postpartum nursing positions at most hospitals. Some hospitals require RNs to hold a BSN degree or higher.

Postpartum nurses are required to have an RN license from the state in which he/she will practice nursing. The RN license can be applied for after meeting the State Board of Nursing’s requirements, which consist of earning at least an ADN from an accredited nursing school and passing the NCLEX-RN.

Are Any Certifications or Credentials Needed?
A few certifications are available for postpartum nurses. First, the Electronic Fetal Monitoring certification is a requirement at many hospitals.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

The other main certification is the Maternal Newborn Nursing (RNC-MNN). This certification demonstrates expertise and dedication to the specialty. While not required to be hired into the position, this certification is often required by hospitals after some years of employment. It requires 24-months of employment in the specialty.

Where Do Postpartum Nurses Work?
The postpartum nurse works primarily in the postpartum or maternity unit of a hospital. They can also work in birthing centers, which have grown in popularity in recent years. Other places that employ postpartum nurses include clinics and private practices. Postpartum nurses work closely with other medical professionals, including OB-GYN doctors, labor and delivery specialty nurses, nursery nurses, lactation consultants, and more.

What Does a Postpartum Nurse Do?
Postpartum nurses provide important physical and emotional care and recovery for both the new mom and the newborn baby following a delivery. They are trained to educate the new mother and watch for signs of postpartum depression, and may work in tandem with a lactation consultant to assist with breastfeeding. A large part of their role is providing support for the mother in any way that’s needed.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

What Are the Roles and Duties of a Postpartum Nurse?
Assess and monitor the new mother after delivery to ensure proper recovery and healing
Clean and monitor the newborn baby
Check vital signs
Check caesarian incisions if applicable
Remove catheters after delivery
Dispense pain medication and/or antibiotics as needed
Provide education to new parents regarding how to care for an infant
Help the new mother with the emotional aspects of the birth recovery
Work with lactation consultants to help the new mother breastfeed
RELATED: You Have The Right To Breastfeed Your Baby [Infographic]

Postpartum Nurse Salary & Employment
A postpartum nurse has a median salary in the US of $65,077. Location, experience, certifications, and education affect the salary.

With no shortage of births in the country, postpartum nursing has a favorable employment outlook. Some nurses gain experience in postpartum nursing and then go on to work as a lactation nurse, labor and delivery nurse, or other maternity specialty, making it a versatile career move. Postpartum nurses must be able to handle working odd hours, as babies are born at all times of the day and night.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Helpful Organizations, Societies, and Agencies
Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses
Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association
The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing
Nursing for Women’s Health Journal
Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing

When nursing began it had very little to do with formal medical training and everything to do with your gender and willingness to do the job. In the early days of nursing, women learned medical skills from their mothers or other women in the same profession. It wasn’t really seen as a respected trade, but women weren’t really seen as a respectable gender, either. Women were caretakers, so nursing was just an extension of what their roles at home were anyway. Today, the nursing profession has changed drastically. There are extensive training programs, more diversified staff, and a level of prestige associated with this area of the medical field that wasn’t there before.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Time has done a lot for many career paths, but the nursing field has seen drastic changes to help the efficiency of medical care. There are more training programs, better hospitals, more responsibility, a sense of family, and a focus on patient care in the nursing industry that has saved lives and created generations of dedicated medical professionals.

Training

Training for nurses was very rudimentary in the beginning of the profession. Early on, training wasn’t even necessary and organized training wasn’t offered to caretakers. Many of those that were sick were offered care by mothers and family members, not outside health providers. Florence Nightingale was one of the first nurses offering some sort of training for nurses in Britain in the late 1800’s where she taught certain principals to women that wanted to be caregivers. In the United States, lectures and instruction manuals were offered for women to learn how to give care to women during childbirth and postpartum period. The Civil War caused many more women to join the rising number of hospitals offering nurse training that was more of an apprenticeship than the training programs we see later.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Today, the qualifications for nurses are very specific and in depth. There are a wide variety of nursing programs, specialties, degrees, and certifications for different types of nursing, but all of them require the student to pass different certifications in order to provide health care to patients. In the first half of the 20th century, nurses were taught basic health care skills as well as hospital etiquette, such as how to address patients, how to dress, and to treat patients like they are guests in their home. Now nursing training is focused on the academic side—and not so much on wearing stockings and addressing patients by their surname.

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Setting

The health care setting used to be in the home or on the battlefield for many women in the nursing field. There was a clear preference and need for health care to be practiced at home whenever possible. Home visits were more common than visits to the hospital, which were mainly reserved for those that were extremely ill, badly injured, or near death. It wasn’t until the early nursing programs that nurses started working inside hospitals as employees who obtained medical knowledge and not just an orderly who changed bedpans.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Now the medical settings for nurses are hospitals, physicians’ offices, home health care services, or assisted living facilities. Nurses are now medical professionals that are needed in schools, correctional facilities, or the military. Nurses are even traveling to fulfill nursing needs across the United States while gaining experience and pay. The setting for nurses really started to change with the added training for nurses that made them more respected medical personnel and not just women who focused on assisting doctors and giving sponge baths. With the added responsibility came the need for nurses all over the country, and many women flourished with this career path working in hospitals more than just providing care in the home.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Responsibilities

Nursing responsibilities used to read a lot like a household chore list, and it’s come a long way since. The change in responsibilities for nurses stem from a few changes in the field, including more comprehensive training, changing views of women, and the need for medical professionals growing quickly. When training for nurses became more extensive and required schooling, the education system started teaching nurses tasks that were originally reserved for physicians. This allowed physicians to concentrate on higher levels of education themselves and nurses were allowed more decision making for their patients. The view of women when nursing started was that they were subservient caretakers, and the nursing world wasn’t exactly seen as a prestigious career because of it. Once women started to become more respected and allowed to enter the workforce, obtain nursing degrees, and have more responsibilities in the medical industry, the nursing perception began to change.

Now the role of the nurse is not easy to define for many medical professionals. They take on many more responsibilities than they ever have before and are seen as respected medical professionals because of their extensive schooling and real world application of skill. The medical world is always changing and growing, which opens up a need for personnel in many hospitals constantly. With the growing amount of patients in our hospitals it’s important that our nurses know how to handle medical emergencies without asking a physician for aid, so that is what our educators are focusing on. Nurses are not seen as a doctor’s assistant, but rather as their own professional with the medical knowledge to back it up.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Culture

Nursing culture in the early 20th century was known as being mostly female with a rudimentary amount of medical knowledge. There was a focus on being presentable, acting respectfully, and acting as the obedient wife to every patient. In World War II, nurses were badly needed but many women were starting to shy away from the profession because they weren’t seen as professionals, endured demanding work schedules, and were unable to keep up financially. When nurses started to be revered as heroes in order to help raise the nursing numbers the numbers started to rise a little. Today, this culture has changed a lot; nursing is about education and health care knowledge, has diversified the gender norm, and nursing salaries are rising due, in part, to the nursing shortage caused by retiring baby boomers.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

Some nursing culture hasn’t changed a ton comparatively. Nursing is still seen as an extremely cumbersome job to have with nurses working very long hours, standing on their feet for most of their day, and having little time for their personal lives that doesn’t involve sleeping. They have historically suffered from back pain, high stress levels, and dealt with nursing shortages leading to unfavorable nurse to patient ratios.

Patient Care

Patient care is now an extremely important factor in the medical field for all medical professionals. The advancements in technology have created an environment that makes patient care more efficient and helpful for the patient. Technological advancements have changed almost every industry in the US and the medical field is no different. This has helped save more lives, made certain jobs easier for nurses, and created a better experience for patients. The culture for patient care used to be a very demoralizing experience for many patients where medical professionals weren’t as concerned for their dignity or enduring painful medical procedures. Luckily, patient care has become the number one priority for medical professionals and has flourished in recent years with nurses on the front lines of patient care.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse

The nursing profession has come leaps and bounds and continues to be a growing field. Historically, it has proven its ability to adapt to the culture around it. For nurses and patients alike, the advances made have helped the nursing field to go from being one that isn’t revered as being one that deserves respect. The changes in training, health care setting, growing responsibilities, nursing culture, and patient care have saved countless lives and helped it become the respected field that it is today.Comparing A Postpartum Nurse At A Registered Essay Nurse