To think that some women have an awful time on the postnatal ward

[elliejjtiny]

This isn't a slag off the midwives thread. In my case the midwives were perfectly lovely and kind, just very overworked.

My 2 experiences on the postnatal ward with DS4 (now 18m) and DS5 (now 6m) were horrible. I had caesareans both times and both babies were in NICU, although DS5 came and joined me on the ward for the last 3 days. Once my catheter was out I had to make my own breakfast, fetch other meals and drinks from the ward kitchen, take expressed milk down what felt like endless corridors to NICU every 4 hours and sterilize all the bottles, pump bits etc. I didn't have DH with me as he was looking after the DC's or any visitors who stayed more than 5 minutes. I could have really done with some tlc in my vulnerable and hormonal state. And some decent painkillers. I wasn't allowed morphine after the catheter came out because it made me wobbly, just paracetamol and ibubrofen. I take more than that for period pains.

But when I talk about it I get told that it didn't happen or that I'm being negative or exaggerating. It makes me feel like I'm going mad. So come and tell me your awful postnatal ward stories so that I know I'm not alone.

Sorry humpty, you'll have to come a few miles further north! It's not just our hospital though, everywhere, there are midwives wanting to do their best on every shift. It sounds like one particular hospital on here is an exception, with everybody having bad experiences with every midwife. I have found with agency midwives that they don't work as hard, or have the same motivation. I don't know whether that is because if the nature of agency work, they don't have any responsibility to the ward or the hospital, they have no fear of getting sacked, they get lots of money each shift, so maybe they are all factors with them.

pulls what is the culture like on your ward. Again I know everyone can have a different experience but what I like about the experience I have at kings is how I was treated with respect, staff were busy but let you know they were busy and communicated with me about my care - it seemed a good culture on the wards I was on - so people were well treated.

I had really difficult deliveries with lots of follow up care - my heart goes out to those of you who had awful experiences.

We always keep people up to date if we are busy, so that they don't think they have been forgotten. Quite often, we will have everything ready for someone's discharge, but just be waiting for the paediatrician. They might be new ones that are taking a long time to do the checks, and it is really frustrating for us, as we know people want to go home, and they are often getting a bit angry towards us because we aren't sending them home, but physically can't until the paediatrician has seen them. I do try though every hour or so to tell them that I'm still working on it, and trying to hurry the drs up.
I think people get frustrated if they think they've just been left. If you are honest with them and communicate with them, they understand what's happening (or what's not happening) , and can be frustrated, but they then don't take it out on us.

That sounds just as it should be, pullthecracker.

This was the reason I left an hour after giving birth, after threatening to kick the door of the delivery floor open rather than be transferred to a ward.

Stitches or not, and baby in my arms, I would have kicked it in and walked barefoot home in the snow.

Fortunately, they agreed to discharge me immediately.

What about volunteers? They had a couple of volunteers on the childrens ward when I was in there last who did craft sessions with the children and tidied up the playroom. Someone or a few people could do something similar on the maternity wards. Make tea and chat to mums.

How do midwives with no nursing experience other than placement look after surgical patients? Answer: surely they can't

I work in maternity in one of the hospitals named above. There are theatre nurses present at sections,. Post surgery the women go into HDU, where there will be a nurse on duty.

Are any of them competent?
Have any of them earned their merit badge in bedside manner?
No roses can have all the qualifications in the world, but if they are incompetent, negligent, rude, they are effectively useless.

Nurses not Roses.

Cherrytree - how long are women who have sections on HDU for and do they end up on the same postnatal ward as others later?

And if they are are there qualified nurses there or direct entry midwives with no nursing experience?

enlightenedowl

I'm a direct entry midwife with no nursing experience. I manage to look after post section women in recovery or on the postnatal ward just fine. I'm guessing the three years of training helped with that.

Pico..it can be anything from 6 to 24 hours, depends on the individual.
There are no nurses on PNW, but the midwifes are experienced in post op care, plus daily rounds by the doctors.

I would assume at least some are.
Maybe those are the ones sitting at the nurses station.

After my ELCS I said "what do I have to do to get discharged in 24 hours"

The answer was, be walking about, have had a wee on my own, established feeding.

I was out in 26 hours (took ages to get the discharge papers sorted).

I didn't want to be thee a minute longer than I needed to.

That's interesting about the doctors. They didn't seem to do rounds at our hospital. At least not in a way that meant that the patients saw them.

On our ward we do rounds at 8am and 7pm. Including maternity wards.

At our floor*

Never saw any doctors at the hospital where I gave birth. Seems to be little communication with them.

Because there isn't supposed to be. Obs only really come down when there's a problem. Midwifes are fully capable of dealing with most things.

It's funny how negative people are about direct-entry midwives. The only midwives I knew for sure were direct entry (because they were students and we chatted) were absolutely excellent in every way.