Lori Baas Rubarth

Women's Experience of Hospitalized Bed Rest During High‐Risk Pregnancy

OBJECTIVE To describe the lived experience of the hospitalized pregnant woman on bed rest. DESIGN A qualitative, phenomenological design. SETTING Three high-risk antepartum units in the midwestern United States. PARTICIPANTS A self-selected, convenience sample of 11 high-risk pregnant women. METHOD Phenomenological study using thematic analysis of completed handwritten journals and/or online blogs. RESULTS Women described the battles that they fought each day for the lives of their unborn children. Using an imagery of war, three categories emerged: (a) the war within, (b) fighting each battle, and (c) bringing in reinforcements. CONCLUSIONS Women experience many different emotions and stressors during restricted bed rest. A nurses understanding of this experience is essential to provide adequate care and coping strategies for women at this time.

Job satisfaction of neonatal intensive care nurses

PURPOSE:The purpose of this study was to describe the job satisfaction of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses in the Midwestern United States. The factors explored in job satisfaction were monetary compensation (pay), job stress, caring for patients in stressful situations, level of autonomy, organizational support, level of knowledge of the specialty, work environment, staffing levels, communication with physicians, communication with neonatal nurse practitioners, interdisciplinary communication, team spirit, and the amount of required “floating” to other nursing units. SUBJECTS:Participants were 109 NICU nurses working as either staff nurses (n = 72) or advanced practice nurses (n = 37). Of the participants, 96% worked in a level 3 NICU. DESIGN:A descriptive, correlational design was used to study job satisfaction among NICU nurses. METHODS:Nurses were recruited at 2 regional NICU conferences in 2009 and 2010. The questionnaire was a researcher-developed survey consisting of 14 questions in a Likert-type response rating 1 to 5, with an area for comments. Descriptive statistics and correlations were used to analyze the resulting data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:The majority of participants were moderately satisfied overall in their current position and workplace (mean ranking = 4.07 out of 5.0). Kendalls Tau b (TB) revealed that the strongest positive correlations were between organizational support and team spirit with overall job satisfaction (TB = 0.53). RESULTS:The individual factors with the highest mean scores were caring for patients in a stressful situation, level of autonomy, and communication between nurses and neonatal nurse practitioners. This indicates that our population of NICU nurses feels most satisfied caring for patients in stressful situations (m = 4.48), are satisfied with their level of autonomy (M = 4.17), and are satisfied with the interdisciplinary communication in their units (m = 4.13). CONCLUSIONS:Nurses in the NICU are relatively satisfied with their jobs. The small sample size (n = 109) of Midwest NICU nurses proves to be a limitation for generalization. Additional research is needed to further evaluate nursing role, educational level, and job satisfaction in the NICU.

Facilitating Breastfeeding in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Identifying Barriers

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The apgar score: simple yet complex.

EV A L U A T I O N O F T H E newborn at birth includes assignment of the Apgar scores at one and five minutes of age. Dr. Virginia Apgar (Figure 1) developed this evaluation procedure in the 1950s, and it has been used routinely for more than a half century. Apgar developed this assessment tool with five objective criteria: (a) heart rate (HR), (b) respiratory effort, (c) reflex irritability, (d) muscle tone, and (e) color (Table 1).1 Apgar described the criteria, scoring method, and the rationale for each of the five criteria. She stated in her second report that HR and respiratory effort were the most important of the five assessment criteria; that reflex irritability and muscle tone were next in importance; and that color was the least important.2 She explained that color is dependent on the criteria of HR and respiratory effort. To become pink, an infant needs to be breathing.

Newborn transition to extrauterine life

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Respiratory Development and Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Abstract Respiratory development is crucial for all newborn infants. Premature infants may be born at an early stage of development and lack sufficient surfactant production. This results in respiratory distress syndrome. This article reviews the normal fetal development of the lung as well as the disorder that develops because of an early birth.

Bacterial sepsis in the neonate

Neonatal bacterial infections leading to sepsis occur frequently in the first few days or weeks of life. NPs must be able to recognize the early signs of sepsis and understand the need for rapid evaluation and treatment. This article discusses antibiotic treatments for various types and locations of bacterial infections and sepsis in the neonate.

Malignancies and tumors in the neonate.

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Glucose-6-phosphatase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency: how are they different?

GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPH ATASE and glucose-6phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) are both important enzymes; a deficiency of either of these enzymes can cause the infant to have significant or life-threatening symptoms. Glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency is a glycogen-storage disease resulting in hypoglycemia and glycogen buildup in the liver that interferes with fat metabolism. G6PD deficiency is an X-linked hereditary disease resulting in nonimmune hemolytic anemia and jaundice. These two diseases sound so similar but are very, very different.

Blood types and ABO incompatibility.

Using the Punnett square and having an understanding of the relationship between genes and blood types will assist you in explaining blood type inheritance to parents and answering their many questions. Using this tool, nurses can show parents what is happening during the division of genes and how blood type genes are expressed.