Nurse Shares Life-Saving Hospital Tips for Moms

Quick Smiles:

• Labor nurse Jen Hamilton offers empowering advice for expectant mothers.
• Advocating for safe nurse staffing can help ensure better maternity care.
• Expert tips help families ask the right questions before delivery day.

Labor and delivery nurse Jen Hamilton is helping expectant mothers take charge of their care by sharing essential questions to ask before giving birth in a hospital.

Hamilton’s viral videos urge parents to ask whether their hospital follows AWHONN’s safe staffing standards, ideally ensuring one nurse for every birthing patient.

“You need to know whether the hospital you are going to give birth in follows AWHONN’s safe staffing standards,” Hamilton said in her TikTok, which quickly gained traction online.

If the hospital cannot guarantee safe staffing, Hamilton recommends having your concerns documented and bringing them to hospital supervisors to prompt action.

Hamilton encourages parents to seek inside insight from current labor and delivery staff, suggesting reaching out through friends or local groups to get honest answers about staffing practices.

Documenting unsafe staffing in your chart may prompt quicker responses from hospital administrators and helps ensure your concerns are acknowledged.

“You’re only going to get the right answer from people who live it,” Hamilton notes, emphasizing the value of first-hand experience from medical staff.

If faced with difficult staffing situations, Hamilton advises patients never to blame their nurse but to respectfully voice concerns and make personal decisions about continuing care.

Having a knowledgeable support person or doula familiar with these issues can empower families during labor and delivery.

By knowing what to ask and taking action, families can help make hospitals safer for everyone.

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