Use the call light

Hello! Welcome back. So, this is quick but, it is something that I would like to tell you. When you need your nurse, push the call light button. Don't send your husband to the nurses station. It is a pet peeve of us labor nurses. First of all, there are rules and laws in regards to patient privacy. Talking about patients where others can hear is not allowed. The law I am referring to is called HIPAA You can read about it here. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html

 You are not allowed to know what other patients have going on either. There is a lot going on at the RN station that really is about protecting your privacy. Also, when your mother-in-law comes up to the nurses station to ask how your progressing, we can't tell her that either.  Keep in mind it is quicker for us to respond to your questions if you ring the call light and we come to you than if daddy-to-be runs down the hall. Odds are, when you husband comes to get us, we still have to come to you to answer the question in front of you.

We have what is called central monitoring. We can see your fetal monitor from the nurses station. We are watching it constantly. You don't need to call us to tell us what your baby's heart beat is doing on the monitor. We can see the difference between something to be concerned about or something as simple as signal loss. We will not teach your husband fetal monitoring while you are in labor. We are experts at fetal monitoring and we know what concerns us and what doesn't.

Last week on my unit while I was charting at the nurses station, a dad with a laboring wife ran frantically to our nurses station yelling, "Nurse, please, hurry, come here, OH MY GOD, something is wrong with the baby's heart beat, it is at 200 beats then to 160. It is jumping all over the place!" This guy looked like he was going to have a stroke! No joke! Not only did the poor fellow make a little bit of a fool out of himself, he was stressing over nothing! I went to the room and looked at what he saw. (The nurse managing that patient was well aware that the fetal monitoring was FINE!) He was out of control, freaking out! I understand that they worry. But, please trust us. We do know what we are doing. He was freaking out about a baby that was PERFECT! It was beautiful! Accelerations from the baby's baseline heart beat are GOOD!!!! So, please don't expect to understand fetal monitoring. It is complicated and there is  a lot to learn. If there is something to be concerned about it, you will know! I promise, we won't keep you in the dark. The nurses will be at your bedside, and they will be doing something about it. There probably will be several nurses and even a doctor that runs into the room if we are concerned. Think of it like you would a flight attendant on an airplane. Have you ever been on a flight and you think a sound was strange or turbulence is scary? When you think something is wrong on the fight and you look at the flight attendant and she is smiling and going about normal business, then all is well, right?! RIGHT! Same thing in Labor! If we aren't concerned your shouldn't be concerned.

Thanks for reading!!

Kathy L&D RN