The role of a maternity nurse is expanding every year. Most recently, the role has been expanding as families expand with multiple children. As more women have babies after the teenage years, new roles for maternity nurses are being created.
As the baby’s growth continues, so does the patient’s discharge instructions. Therefore, it is important for patients to have a good day-to-day care plan made for them when they are in hospital. This includes pain management, wound care and continuity of care on an ongoing basis.
The job of a maternity nurse is to help guide patients through this process. This can be tricky at times as people get sick and things change during this time. As their main job is helping people with their discharge instructions, most have high levels of motivation and expertise in this field.
Contents:
Administer medication
Medication is one of the most common substances a maternity nurse administers. Most common medications are for anxiety, sleep, depression, and pain.
A few new medicines are developed every few months so pregnant women should always have a list of all their medicines ready. These new medicines are sometimes used to treat babies with medication-associated neonatal problems such as low weight or prolonged exposure to formula.
As you can see, many of the medications we talk about in this article are for sleep or anxiety. This is definitely not a maternity job for where you want to be headed!
As a maternity nurse, you can help your patients feel better through your knowledge and administration of medication. You also get paid more if you like giving people drugs.
Coach patients on health and wellness
Maternity nurses help their patients on a daily basis. They coach patients on how to take care of themselves and learn new techniques to maintain health and wellness.
On a daily basis, they assess patients to see if they need any interventions such as diet and exercise recommendations or modifications to their routine. Once the patient is deemed healthy by the nurse, she or he receives ongoing support from the staff.
On an ongoing basis, the maternity nurse monitors symptoms and conditions in their baby, tries to stay calm while doing this and checks in when the baby is napping, feeding, or moving around.
This job can be fun and challenging at the same time.
Provide support to patients’ families
Maternity nurses help families cope with the changes in a few ways. You can start by helping them find trusted someone to take care of their baby for a few days or weeks. You can also teach them how to support breastfeeding and infant feeding.
As an infant nurse, you can help with developing themes in children’s stories and learning experiences, such as playdates and milestones, which are important for parents. You can also help with developing skills, such as establishing routines and self-care, which are important for a healthy selfcare.
As a maternity nurse, you can develop your career by working with patients at the hospital and by being there when they need you. You can start this easyly by becoming an board certified registered nurse groner (BCRN).
Document patient progress
A maternity nurse’s role is to help patients prepare for and during childbirth. She works with the patient and their family to determine what stage of pregnancy they are and what needs they have.
As part of her training, most nurses learn how to request fetal monitoring or birth preparation tools such as a scissors, hands-free fetal monitor, and other helpful supplies.
Since their job is to be present during labor and delivery, the maternity nurses I interviewed were very knowledgeable about the differences in pain during pregnancy and postpartum pain. They said that since most babies are born early due to pain, most patients are willing to take some pain medication.
Maintain cleanliness of patient area
Maternity nurses care for patients in a number of ways. They keep the area where the patient lies and sleeps clean and organized. They prepare the rooms for sleep and for visitors to visit the patient during that time.
They monitor patients to make sure their blood pressure and pulse are rising and falling properly. They determine when a woman is ready to move around and discharge her if she needs it or not.
It is important for a maternity nurse to know what signs of delivery a woman has because she can prepare her family for what they might see. A baby may be arriving early or still wanting to come down in size due to fatigue or fullness of womb. If these things are known, then there are ways of preparing the family accordingly.
Follow hospital protocol for emergencies
If there is a emergency situation where you can help, such as saving a life, then follow the emergency protocol listed in the bullet point.
As a maternity nurse, you can help save lives! It is your job to make sure patients are monitored and treated appropriately and quickly.
Patients may be admitted to the hospital for several days, so you must be ready to care for them on an ongoing basis. You can apply pressure to relieve swelling, take blood counts, check glucose levels, and administer pain medication.
It can be hard work and stress-relieving to remember that your new baby is growing in your belly, but it pays off in the end.
Relay information to doctor or team leader
A maternity nurse works with the doctor or team leader to help prepare patients for what to do if they need to leave the hospital early.
This includes teaching patients how to go off pituitary signals and how to get in touch with doctors or team leaders in case of an emergency. It also includes helping patients understand their families’ needs as they recover and going about implementing that for their care.
As part of this role, a maternity nurse may also relay important hospital information such as test results and doctor visits. This may include helping a fetus who was not ready for labor to get some relief from the stress of being in labor and the hospital.
To do her job well, a maternity nurse should always be aware of her patients, their conditions, and what effect each is having on them. She should also be aware of any changes in health or condition and be prepared.
Coach patients on breathing techniques
Your patient must be able to breathe without assisted breathing, so being a good breather is a valuable skill to have. This is important when someone is gasping for air and does not have the skills to assist you in this process.
Maternity nurses can learn several breath-training techniques including the hyperventilation technique (known as the “exhale, hold, exhale” or “EHH” method), guided respiration, and guided self-breathing.
The EHH method involves holding your breath for a few seconds and then slowly letting out a breath of air while counting to 5 on an inhale. The goal is to repeat this action on the next few breaths too.
Guided respiration involves having your patient count their breaths while you help them relax so they can let out a breathe on their own.