In the emergency department, we pride ourselves to be prepared for any situation at any time. This becomes a little complicated in the community ED setting as we do not have the convenience of having consultants available in our ED. One day, we had a first-time mother who was full term, present with abdominal pain. We were able to quickly identify that she was indeed contracting, but what we were not expecting was for her water to break and have precipitous labor.
Lisa, Suzie, Julie, and Jane did not miss a beat. They had all our laboring supplies ready. They had all the newborn supplies set up. We were monitoring mom and baby to the best of our capabilities all while coordinating transport and calling report to get mom and baby stabilized and transferred ASAP.
Not only were these nurses taking care of the patient from a medical standpoint, but they were also supporting the patient through her natural labor. They were providing her emotional support as she was a young, first-time mother delivery under circumstances much different from her plan. These nurses worked together as they had been working together their entire careers. Reading each others' minds, always thinking one step ahead. In fact, other than all of themselves being mothers, none of them have worked L&D.
Two of the nurses are PRN staff and ironically enough this group typically never works together. Leading the group was Lisa and this was far from her first rodeo. She works full time for another ED who used to have L&D available and no longer does. This was Lisa's tenth ED baby delivery, but first boy!
She has assisted in more deliveries in the ED than both ED providers on that day. The teamwork shown by this group of nurses was remarkable and I will personally forever be grateful for their assistance that evening. Did I mention this all occurred at shift change? Mom and baby were both stabilized promptly transferred to the main campus and doing well.