The nine month physical journey of a pregnant woman begins with conception and ends with the birth of the baby. Pregnancy can be positive or negative experience, or a variation of either, depending on the different challenges each mother faces. The moment a woman defines herself, as a mother is incredibly subjective. The moment occurs once a woman makes a connection to her baby and commits to motherhood through caring, nurturing and being there for her newborn. I will be reflecting on what I learned while caring for a woman transitioning into motherhood on the family newborn unit, including the moment she realized her new role of a mother, the various challenges she faced, the impact that nurses had through out this transition and finally, …show more content…
This particular challenge proved how strong of an impact nursing can have on a mother’s health care experience. The nurse acknowledged the frustrations this mother was having, and supported her by providing additional education and feedback, which resulted in the baby eventually attaining a good latch. Observing and listening to teachings about breast-feeding was extremely beneficial to my learning, as I now understand the various positions that may work for different mothers and babies. The most important thing I grasped from this was that new mother’s might need additional encouragement if things are not going as they had expected. Observing the coaching and support from the nurse proved how effective small things such as support and therapeutic communication can have a positive impact on a mother’s …show more content…
This time period may be very overwhelming for mothers as they are often exhausted, facing hormonal imbalances and are required to care for their newborn. At the hospital, nurses have several different patients, which can cause the emotional needs of a mother during this time to be neglected. Providing emotional support such as encouragement, praise and reassurance are essential and can guide mothers in coming to know their newborns (Nelson, 2003). Additionally, providing continuous support can strengthen a mother’s self-esteem and her capacity to interact and nurture her infant (Ekström & Nissen, 2006). Nurses can assist with simple newborn tasks can relieve the stress as these mothers and partners reorganize their lives around their newborn (Rubin,
Matteson, S., Smith, J., (2011). Core Curriculum for Maternal Newborn Nursing. St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier
Maternity care used to be and still is at some facilities segregated into three departments; intrapartum, postpartum and nursery. This care is often called “transitional” care, and has been described as “rigid and inflexible” (Waller-Wise, 2012). During my obstetrics rotation, the transition to family centered care was observed.
This birthing plan is often documented in the patient’s medical record which aids the health care staff during the birthing event. Documentation and discussion of these events is often necessary to ensure all the needs of the family are met. Too often all the potential needs are not discussed and the opportunity to meet the needs of the new family is missed. These missed opportunities can result in emotional and religious conflicts within the family unit and toward the health care staff. For the nurse leader these missed opportunities in care could result in unfavorable patient satisfaction scores and reports within and outside the institution which necessitates follow up. The most important missed opportunity is how this affects the family unit itself. Depending on the missed opportunity the family unit may be affected for years based on questions not asked or decisions made with poor information. Some cultures must bury the placenta after birth and if this was not discussed and the placenta discarded the religious implications could be devastating for this family. Application of Henderson’s need theory guides the nurse in the educational plan for the patient-family unit to ensure all basic needs are covered and questions related to those needs are posed in advanced of the birthing
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston as Health Science Center at Houston
It is important to understand what women commonly experience during pregnancy. With a better understanding of what happens during prenatal development and childbirth, physicians can competently develop the best plan for the mother and baby. I interviewed two women who have been previously pregnant in order to evaluate how the ideas in the book translate into real-life experiences.
A great deal of emotions occur in the postpartum period, emotions that you could never understand unless you have been there. Before I attended a conference on depression in pregnancy & postpartum the thought of fathers suffering from postnatal depression never even entered my mind. As far as I was concerned, It was only associated it with giving birth. The knowledge I gained has not only changed my outlook on the subject but the way that I interact with and educate my patients. My focus is no longer just on the dyad of mom and baby it’s on mom, dad and baby if there is a partner involved at all. The purpose of this essay is to explore a particular concept related to professional caring in nursing. It will discuss the patient/client situation, exploration of the concept, how the concept relates to personal caring through noticing, interpreting, responding and reflection. The concept that will be explored in this paper is empathy.
What do Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, Dorthea Dix, and Lavinia Dock all have in common? All of these women made changes in the practice of nursing in great ways and are leaders in the advancement of nursing. The nursing shortage throughout American history has changed education in the medical field. Nursing education has been determined not only by the evolution of technology and advances in science, but by the needs and development of society over time.
Nursing has always been a key career in the health care system. Although it is not often focused on in media and stories surrounding health care, nursing is a career of great importance. If any patient was asked about their experience at a hospital or a care center, many will mention the capability and care that they received from the nurses. The health care system could not function efficiently, if at all, if nurses were not present to perform their part. Nurses are more than just physicians support staff. Of interest in this paper is why people choose to study nursing in university or college. From students just graduating high school to mature student who have prior degrees or education, nursing is a popular choice as a path to study
INTRODUCTION There are many things that affect a student’s enrolment as a nurse the student must be competent in the many registration standards that the Nursing Midwifery Board of Australia have set. The stigmas attached to students with Impairments and or Criminal histories and the ineligibility to register. Nursing is defined by the International Council of Nursing (2014) as collaborative care of individual’s any age health or ill of all communities, groups, in all situations. Health promotion, illness prevention and the care of unwell, disabled and dying people are included in the nursing practice. Encouraging a safe environment, research, contributing to shape health policies and health systems management, and education are also key nursing
Perry, S. E., Hockenberry, M. J., Lowdermilk, D. L., & Wilson, D. (2013). Labor and Birth Processes. In Maternal Child Nursing Care (5th ed., p. 351). Elsevier-Health Sciences Division.
During one of my shifts on postpartum I was helping a nurse look after a mom with her first baby. She really wanted to be able to breastfeed but she was having a lot of troubles getting her baby to latch on. It was a Saturday and there was no lactation consultant working who could come in to help her. Her baby was also small for gestational age, so she did have risk for hypoglycemia, making it really important for her baby to be feeding to ensure her blood sugars would not drop. After each attempt at breastfeeding and being unsuccessful, the mom would look very upset. The nurse tried to help her by showing her different breastfeeding positions and techniques and teaching her to express her milk and put it in the baby’s mouth. The
This week’s clinical experience has been unlike any other. I went onto the unit knowing that I needed to be more independent and found myself to be both scared and intimidated. However, having the patients I did made my first mother baby clinical an exciting experience. I was able to create connections between what I saw on the unit and the theory we learned in lectures. In addition, I was able to see tricks other nurses on the unit have when providing care, and where others went wrong. Being aware of this enabled me to see the areas of mother baby nursing I understood and areas I need to further research to become a better nurse.
First, I would like to start by stating that my expectation of a nurse is that he or she must be a good communicator, emotionally strong, empathetic, patient and calm, pay attention to detail and have good physical endurance. I feel that I possess these qualities which would make me very successful as nurse in the future. I have dream about being a nurse since I was a little girl and as a young adult, I still have the desire to be a nurse so I can help others. My desire to become a nurse evolves from past experiences that have taken place in my life; for example, my father’s death, my illness, personal experience and interaction with the hospital staff, specifically, the nurses.
When the baby is admitted to the NICU, the mother is unable to have the usual bonding moments where she holds and comforts her newborn. Rather, when visiting with her child, she is required to take endless precautions, has limited time to be with her baby, and must see her little child connected to many machines helping to keep the baby stable (Shanmugam & Ramachandra, 2015). In their study, Shanmugam and Ramachandra (2015) questioned 100 mothers of neonates in the NICU, and recorded the correlation between their stress level and coping strategies. They found that 38 of the mothers had severe stress, 28 had moderate stress, and the remaining had mild stress. Of these women, 25% had good coping, 50% had moderate coping, and 25% had poor coping. A large finding from this study was that nurses and health care providers played a very big role in helping to reduce the stress levels of the mothers by talking with them and listening to their concerns, while also providing adequate care for their children. If the mother is using negative coping strategies, such as holding in all of her concerns and filling her mind with the thoughts of death, financial issues, and fear of the unknown, she is going to cause her body great harm (Shanmugam & Ramachandra,
Ramona T. Mercer is the theorist credited for developing the theory of Maternal Role Attainment, which is also known as the theory of Becoming a Mother. “Maternal role attainment is an interactional and developmental process occurring over time in which a mother becomes attached to her infant, acquires competence in the caretaking tasks involved in the role, and expresses pleasure and gratification in the role (Tomey & Alligood, 2006, p. 608). Mercer’s career has been primarily focused in pediatrics, obstetrics, and maternal-child nursing. Mercer’s greatest accolades have been based on her extensive research on the topic of maternal role and development (Tomey & Alligood, 2006, p. 605).