Journal 4 Anna Still Ms. Hollingsworth Senior Project 7 Aug.

2012 Meeting New Faces I was more than anxious to walk into the Birthplace on my second day of shadowing at Baptist Hospital because the first visit was so intriguing. I felt as if I was constantly learning new information and I wanted to see as much as I possibly could in a short amount of time. I learned about different instruments used during pregnancy and delivery, medicine, and met other nurses who worked that day. The first instrument I learned about was a balloon that sometimes needs to be inserted into the cervix to help with dilation in the labor process. By inserting this, the balloon can increase dilation by three or four centimeters, and the balloon will eventually fall out. An Intrauterine Pressure Catheter (IUPC) measures the pressure inside the uterus which tells a nurse or doctor how strong the contractions are. An Internal Fetal Monitor screws into the top layer of the babys head and gives a more accurate heart rate tracing. A group beta strep, (GBS) is a harmless bacteria that all doctors test for at thirty-six weeks. If the test comes back positive, the doctors have an antibiotic protocol during delivery. Even though I shadowed my mentor, Sarah, I met many other nurses who were very helpful with information about the career. On my first day, I met Laurie who is an RN and was assigned to a patient who had been induced earlier in the morning and a Pre-eclampsia patient. At my other two visits, I met Anna, another RN who was assigned to the morning C-section and stayed with a patient a few hours after delivery. On my second visit, I also met Kelly, the charge

Journal 4 nurse for the day. A charge nurse is someone who attends all deliveries if possible, assigns nurses to patients, and checks the code cart. Something that I learned that I didnt know before I began shadowing is that plexie pulls are put on patients feet before surgery to help prevent blood clots and are usually left on after surgery for a day or two. I also learned that a tool used in surgery, called a bovie, burns the skin around the area that bleeds. I also learned that the medicine Phenergan can cause veins to enlarge and explode if given through a regular IV. Therefore, Phenergan is placed in a piggyback IV, so it doesnt fry ones vein. On day two, I learned when and why different instruments are used for many procedures. I was unaware of how many different tools can be used to help the labor process. Now that I have been a little more educated on different tools and medicines, I feel more confident about understanding how the labor and delivery process works.