ABC News aired an interesting news segment concerning the increasing rates of maternal mortality, especially in California. The segment begins with a tragic story of a new mom who was scheduled for a repeat elective C-Section. She did not leave the hospital alive. This was a preventable death. 100%
The segment described how this new mom layed in bed for 30 hours, yes 30 HOURS!, after her surgery. Flame me if you want, but this sounds like a negligence of NURSING care, pure and simple. Basic nursing 101. Surgery patients need to be ambulated early and frequently to prevent blood clots, which is what this new mom died of. Sometimes I feel like (and correct me if I am wrong….cuz I know you will!) OB nurses neglect their postpartum moms. It is easy to do. These are young, healthy patients. However, a C-Section patient is also a surgical patient, and should be treated as such. Frequent assessments are warranted. Fresh C-Section moms often complain about ambulating. They are in pain, do not feel well, and walking is the last thing they want to do. This is where nurses need to step in. Help your patient ambulate! Educate you patients on how important it is for their health. Bolus them on their PCA (patient controlled analgesia) or give them a pain med, stabilize their incision, and help them to walk across the room!
The article also mentioned the relatively cheap intervention of SCDs (sequential compression devices). These are fancy stockings and inflatable cuffs that wrap around your leg and “squeeze” them to force the blood through out the veins. Now SCD’s are fine and dandy, and are slowly becoming the standard of care for C-Section patients (I did not have them when I had my Section 6 years ago), but they are nowhere near as effective as walking.
I do also believe that the amount of C-Sections in this country needs to be decreased. This is obvious. Until that happens (which I truly believe will happen), please nurses, take this story as a wake-up call. Be hypervigilant with your C-Section moms.
RR
