All you need to know about Labor & Delivery Nurses

 

The profession of nursing is a broadly classified profession that encompasses multifarious roles, disciplines, and responsibilities. Of the many specialized nursing programs, Labor & Delivery specialization has seen an improved scope of nursing in Canada and other western countries.

It's no secret that a Labor & Delivery Nurse’s work is emotionally and physically challenging but can also be immensely rewarding. Providing compassionate care and support to mothers as they bring a new life into the world requires an immense amount of dedication, knowledge, expertise, patience, and empathy - all traits that make labor and delivery nurses exceptional individuals who play an essential role in every mother’s birthing experience. In this article, we will dive deep into the responsibilities of a labor & delivery nurse.

The Many Responsibilities of a Labor and Delivery Nurse

Being a labor and delivery nurse is one of the most rewarding jobs in healthcare. Various specialized nursing programs educate nurses in this field to qualify and become Labor and Delivery nurses. You are responsible for helping families welcome their newborns into the world, and you get to provide emotional and physical support for new mothers during one of the most important moments in their lives. But what exactly does a labor and delivery nurse do? Let’s take a closer look at the many responsibilities of this vital role.

Providing Physical Support

Labor and delivery nurses have many duties, from monitoring contractions to assisting with delivery. Nurses help ensure that mother and baby remain healthy during labor by monitoring vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, breathing rate, oxygen saturation levels, and fetal heart rate. They may also help ease pain during labor through various techniques like massage or breathing exercises. Additionally, labor & delivery nurses aid with breastfeeding or bottle feeding after birth.

Offering Emotional Support

It is not only the physical needs of the mother and baby that nurses must attend to; they must also be emotionally supportive throughout the entire process. Nurses need to be sensitive to any fears or anxieties mothers might have about childbirth while also providing reassurance that everything will go smoothly. Labor & delivery nurses also need to understand cultural sensitivities surrounding childbirth so they can offer appropriate support. For instance, if a family has certain religious beliefs, the nurse needs to be aware of them so they can create an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable.

Educating Patients and Families

Labor & delivery nurses play an important role in educating patients before, during, and after childbirth. This includes teaching patients about nutrition during pregnancy, helping them learn how to recognize when labor begins (e.g., timing contractions), as well as providing information about post-partum care for both mother and baby once they leave the hospital (e.g., proper breastfeeding techniques). These nurses need to have excellent communication skills because they are often called upon to explain complex medical terminology in simple terms that patients can easily understand.

Conclusion

Being a labor & delivery nurse is both physically demanding and emotionally draining but incredibly rewarding work all at the same time. As we’ve discussed here today, there are many responsibilities associated with this role including providing physical support, offering emotional support, and educating patients/families on pre-and post-birth care requirements. Whether you are caring for high-risk pregnancies or simply welcoming new babies into the world with their families; being a labor & delivery nurse means making an impact on families every single day.

Emotional Health: Strategies for Nurses

 Jobs can be stressful for nurses, and it is no longer a secret hidden from the world. When the global pandemic of COVID-19 struck, the nursing force across the globe experienced burnout and additional stress. It was then that the importance of nurses was realized upfront. So much so, that opportunities and jobs for nurses increased in higher volumes. Terminologies like “frontliners”, “warriors”, and “risk-bearers”, have gained a redefined meaning throughout the world. 

 

The emotional health of nurses is quite important, and there’s no one reason to justify this statement. The logical reasoning states that an emotionally available nurse can be counted as the one who is equipped to take care of his or her patients. Well, realizing the importance of emotional health, now most nursing colleges in Canada have begun educating their students on ways to take care of their emotional well-being. 

 

The Importance of Emotional Health for Nurses 

 

Facts state, “nearly 16 percent of nurses report feeling burned out at work”. While there are many more facts addressing something similar, it is quite common to hear about the high burnout rates. Burnout isn’t just amongst nurses but so many more varied healthcare professionals. According to the World Health Organization, “burnout is now classified as an occupational phenomenon that must be addressed to maintain mental well-being in the workplace”. 

  

Nursing leaders and managers are nowadays are focusing majorly on keeping emotional well-being checks in their units, which is an example to show the importance of emotional health for nurses.  

 

Your demography, the work culture, coworkers, and professional protocols of your facility/hospital majorly impact your emotional health. While a lot of Indian nurses choose to move abroad, it is observed that nursing courses in Canada for Indian students primarily highlight emotional health as a part of the curriculum. These nursing courses in Canada are of particular interest for Indian students because they come from a place that demands emotional health to be popular as a concept amongst the commoners. 

 

Strategies for Nurses to Keep a Check on Emotional Health 

 

Jobs are quite demanding for nurses as there’s a lot that goes into maintaining a rapport with patients, their families, and coworkers, especially in a high-stress work environment. Amidst all these unsaid duties, nurses must consistently maintain the emotional capacity to stay empathetic. The idea should be to create supportive workplaces that offer support and guidance coming in from the leaders and teammates whenever there’s a situation of draining emotional health. To encourage emotional health checks amongst nurses, here are a few strategies we think might be helpful. 

 

• It might sound complicated at first, but yes, you need to prioritize self-care during working hours. It doesn’t have to be a highly consuming self-care routine, but finding a few minutes every day to manifest should do the trick. 

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• The fact that nurses and healthcare professionals spend most of their lives contributing to patient care isn’t a myth. As much as it holds true, doing something about it can be helpful. You should try to find a few minutes in the middle of your day to dial home and hear a friendly voice that makes you feel better. 

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• Nurses, while it’s a message the whole universe needs to know, for you, it’s the most important. Ensure you address your emotions. Whether it is anger, sadness, frustration, absolute joy, or anxiety, you’ve got to feel it all and release it healthily so that these emotions don’t bottle up inside you, waiting to explode. 

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• Exercising goes a long way in keeping your emotional well-being in a good shape. So, whenever you feel low or upset, you could take deep breaths followed by repetitions until you feel better. 

Whether it is witnessed at a workplace or while studying at nursing colleges in Canada, the change towards uplifting the concept of “emotional health for nurses” is well-deserved. Nurses, you must not forget to focus on your emotional well-being as only a healthy mind and body can make other minds and bodies healthy.