Week 6 Nov 2nd-6th

I did not meet with my clinical preceptor the week of October 26th-30th because JCAHO was visiting and no students were allowed during this time. I met with my preceptor November 3rd for 9 hours. During this clinical time, we worked on the end of month data required for the nursery. My objective was to first gather the data needed and then put into percentages. The percentages that I was in charge of preparing were for the number of vaginal births versus c section births, the number of insurance, private pay, and medicaid, and the number of babies born below 35 weeks and those born after 40 weeks. Also, I had to calculate the number of times a each pediatrician saw a new patient in the nursery. After counting all of these numbers, my preceptor showed me how to calculate the percentages. I was actually amazed at the results. There was exactly one hundred births during the month of October. The birth percentages were 54% vaginal births and 46% c section births. I had thought that most births ended in c sections because of all the stories I had heard. But, these statistics helped to change my point of view. When it came to the statistics regarding insured patient coverage and medicaid, my opinion was once again proved wrong. 64% of the births were covered by private insurance. The remaining 36% were covered by medicaid and less than 1% was covered by private pay. I had a preconceived notion that most of the births would be covered by medicaid. After hearing all of the talk recently about the status of our healthcare system, I was led to believe that the majority of births are covered by medicaid. I am glad that I was able to review this data and have the correct information. As for the babies born after 40 weeks, there were only 4. There were 6 babies born at less than 35 weeks. I noticed that the majority of the babies were born at 37-39 weeks gestation. When I asked my preceptor about these numbers, she stated that more women have access to prenatal care. Also, with the internet and the wealth of information it provides, mothers are more informed and seek help at the first sign of a problem. Also, the hospital offers a free prenatal course to educate new mothers or returning mothers who have been out of the loop for some time. This program is free to the public. My preceptor states that they have had great success with this program and have had to go to two different classes to accomodate all of the participants. I am glad that I was able to experince this side of nursing management. It opened my eyes to some vital statistics that changed my point of view.