Nursing

Perinatal Nursing Specialties

The Obstetrics area includes the special care pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum units, as well as the normal newborn nursery, intermediate special care nursery, and the Patient Receiving Unit (PRU). Staff members are cross-oriented and have special skills to work in at least two of the OB areas. The area is supported by unit secretaries, perinatal education coordinators, clinical educators, clinical nurse specialists, social workers, lactation consultants, and perinatal outreach education coordinators. Physicians from the following Mayo Clinic departments provide care: Obstetrics/Gynecology, Family Medicine, Perinatology, Neonatology, Pediatrics, and Anesthesiology. Some OB nursing staff members also provide care for patients in the PRU, which serves as a point of entry for all urgent admissions to Rochester Methodist Hospital. Unscheduled postsurgical patient with problems from Rochester Methodist Hospital and unscheduled patients with obstetrical and gynecological problems are seen in the PRU.

Intermediate Special Care Nursery - EI 30/37
The 12-bed nursery is staffed by RNs who attend high-risk deliveries and provide care to premature infants.

Labor/Delivery - EI21
This unit is comprised of three triage rooms, eight birthing rooms, three surgical delivery rooms, and post-anesthesia care unit. Support persons are encouraged to be with the laboring woman as she desires. Siblings may attend the birth as well, if the family chooses. Nurses also assist in the perioperative care of patients undergoing caesarean birth, postpartum tubal ligations, dilatation and curettage for miscarriage, and special procedures performed by the perinatology service.

Neonatal ICU (NICU) - MB3B
This 22-bed Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit includes a subsequent step-down area. The unit serves a diverse patient population, including premature infants, and those with cardiac, surgical, and multisystems dysfunction. The NICU has a specially educated nurse-respiratory therapist transport team available that transports critically ill infants from Rochester Methodist Hospital and area community hospitals.

Newborn Nursery - EI 30/37
The 28-bassinet newborn nursery is adjacent to the postpartum unit. It is available for nursing observation of infants not in mothers' rooms and for infant exams, circumcisions, and laboratory work.

Postpartum - EI32
A 19-bed unit where mother/baby nursing care is the care delivery model on the day and evening shifts (and at night at the family's request). To facilitate family-infant interaction and teaching, mothers are encouraged to keep their infants in their rooms as much as they desire. One nurse cares for both mother and baby in most situations.

Special Care Pregnancy - EI32
This 9-bed special care pregnancy unit provides care and emotional support for families experiencing high-risk pregnancies. Prenatal education and support are provided one-to-one or in a group setting in the lounge/classroom. A maternal-fetal surveillance system interfaces with the monitoring system in labor and delivery.