"Writing and Communication"

Chosen field: Labor and Delivery Nurse

My name is Shantel, I’m 31 years old and this year is my third attempt at college. In my English class, we were asked to choose a field we were interested in and explore the aspects of writing and communication within that career. This blog is my experience of the writing and communication I found within this field.

I chose the field of nursing because it is literally what I want to be when I grow up. When I was 18, I wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse, but the school didn’t work out for me due to being too young and too naïve. I spent my mid-20s in school for veterinary nursing and worked as a veterinary nurse for a few years instead. Then when I was 27, I had to get my tonsils removed. I had to drive to the surgery without any support and I was unbelievably anxious and on edge getting checked into surgery alone. My nurse was the most amazing person, she sensed my energy, and she did such a good job of making me feel comfortable and relaxed before going under. She was amazing at her job, and I wanted to help other people feel that way too with my career.

I choose labor and delivery or any branch of OBGYN because I want to work with and help women. Roe v Wade was overturned one month after I moved to Idaho and it sent me into a depressive spiral. When I came out the other side I decided I wanted to make a career change and dedicate my work to helping women, no matter what their choices may be. I think women's healthcare is lacking and they are often overlooked, I wanted to devote my career to a field where they are put first. This led me to the College of Western Idaho, Pre-Nursing. The need to help people comes naturally to me, so I will make a great nurse. My passion for helping women will also be a great strength. I have a drive to learn new things constantly which will also help me immensely in the medical field. I hope to learn the specifics of this career for this assignment and better understand the communication within it. Most of the writing in the field would be medical notes, which I have a lot of experience doing from my former job as a veterinary nurse. I understand how important medical notes are and how they must be objective and effective, objective being the keyword.

Here is my journey through this assignment:

First, I needed to find a website related to my field and I found the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses. This association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to researching and teaching nurses and educators in this specific field. This is their mission statement:

“Our mission is to empower and support nurses caring for women, newborns, and their families through research, education, and advocacy.”

It seems like a pretty neat organization and one I would love to become a part of someday.

Next, I needed to find a job posting in my field that demonstrated writing and/or communication requirements. A quick indeed search yielded a lot of results. It was fun to look through all the places hiring here in Idaho and even in Montana, my home state. The job posting I landed on was a Registered Labor and Delivery Nurse posting for Sky Lakes Medical Center in Oregon. Here are a few of the many requirements of this specific job related to writing and/or communication:

• Maintains overall responsibility for patient care/ non RN employee’s job performance on assigned unit & delegates patient care tasks to team members within respective practice parameters.

• Gathers data & accurately documents information & observations that contribute to the patient’s plan of care. Set patient outcomes & evaluate progress

• Maintains a constant awareness of the legal aspects of nursing & demonstrates this in his/her decisions & documentation regarding patient care within the Registered nurse’s scope of practice

These were just a few. If I learned anything from working as a veterinary nurse it’s that writing and communicating clearly and effectively is extremely important in the medical field.

My next goal was to find a peer-reviewed article in this field. I found an article titled Effective physician-nurse communication: a patient safety essential for labor and delivery. This article was a mix of qualitative and quantitative research and here is a summary:

“Effective communication is a hallmark of safe patient care. Challenges to effective interprofessional communication in maternity care include differing professional perspectives on clinical management, steep hierarchies, and lack of administrative support for change. We review principles of high reliability as they apply to communication in clinical care and discuss principles of effective communication and conflict management in maternity care.”

This article was interesting as it went into both sides of physician and nurse communication and proved that effective and clear communication between physicians and nurses is a requirement for the career.

My favorite part of the assignment was the personal interview with a professional within the field. I was lucky in that my only friend here in Idaho had an aunt who works as a labor and delivery nurse and she got me into contact with her. Her name is Rikki Reis and she was kind enough to answer all of my questions about writing and communication at work. The most interesting part of the interview was her describing the need to advocate for her patients, especially in times when the physician may be pushing their agenda. She also touched on how important objective communication is within this field. Here is our interview:

Shantel: What do you like most about your field?

Rikki: I love that I get to be a part of such a special and intimate moment. I get to advocate for my patients in a way that other nurses do not get to experience. I try to give my or the birth they want, even when things start going away from their plan.

Shantel: What do you like least?

Rikki: Providers trying to rush the birthing process to fit their timetables. Medicalizing birth when it doesn’t need to be. Sometimes it does when a patient is sick or has risk factors, but not every labor/birth needs intervention.

Shantel: What kinds of writing and communication do you do regularly as part of your job?

Rikki: I chart on the electronic fetal monitoring strip, write communication and progress notes, create care plans, and text providers.

Shantel: How much writing do you typically do in an average day?

Rikki: I wouldn’t say a ton, most of our charting is button-clicking. Maybe 1-5 communication notes, and one care plan. I do text the provider often to keep them updated on patient status, updates, or changes in condition.

Shantel: What advice would you have for me in preparing for writing and communication within the nursing field? 

Rikki: Stick to facts, never include your opinion in charting. You can communicate your opinion or thoughts to providers when discussing patient care, but when you chart that communication, it’s all facts. Learn the correct abbreviations to use for your department and don’t make up your own. You want your notes or communications to be understood by anyone who is reading it. Always stay professional with communication. A lot of notes are accessible to the patient.

Shantel: Is generative AI being used in your field as of now? 

Rikki: Not that I know of. I could see patients using it to create birth plans and such, but I haven’t seen it used for anything else at this time. I am not sure how we would use it in our unit or our department but I will be on the lookout to see if that changes.

As you can see per the interview, being objective while maintaining clear and concise communication through medical notes or one-on-one conversation with a physician is extremely important in any medical field. I ended my interview on the subject of generative AI and Rikki had mentioned she could see it being used to make birth plans. For the next portion of my blog, I want to share some links with you to show how I used generative AI for birth plans with ChatGPT and Googe Gemini. My prompt into both was: “Write a natural birth plan and a caesarian birth plan for a potential client from the point of a provider.”

Here is link and a screenshot to a natural birth plan and a caesarian birth plan created by Chat GPT:

https://chat.openai.com/share/bb0a7473-9f22-4f93-9066-f1f0636e259e

This plan through Chat GPT started as the provider, but the preferences changed and were from the point of a patient.

Here is the same prompt in Google Gemini:

https://g.co/gemini/share/5801b402ee8c

I preferred Google Gemini, as it remained from the point of the provider throughout and it also seemed much more personable than the Chap GPT version. I think it would be useful in my field when a blanket form was needed, but not diving deep into personal preferences per each patient.

You may also be wondering about the images throughout the blog. These were created for me through Chat GPT and they were too creepy to not share. Generative AI can do a lot of things but it can’t seem to create a normal picture of a Labor and Delivery Nurse, on the platform I used anyway. Generative AI may be a threat to many careers but it doesn’t seem to be much a threat to a Labor and Delivery nurse unless it’s asked to create an image of one.

Thank you for following me along my assignment journey. I learned a lot and I enjoyed getting to play with AI bots along the way. Here is one last image to send you on your way.

Sources:

Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and neonatal nurses. AWHONN. (2024, March 21). https://www.awhonn.org/

Lyndon, A., Zlatnik, M. G., & Wachter, R. M. (2011). Effective physician-nurse communication: A patient safety essential for labor and delivery. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 205(2), 91-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2011.04.021

Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?from=app-tracker-saved-appcard&hl=en&jk=ee16ca97805ffd05&tk=1hsdtggv6nnsp800

Images generated by Chat GPT: https://askaichat.app/tool/1714156331158

Personal Interview: Rikki Reis, Professional Labor and Delivery Nurse

Birth Plans created by Chat GPT and Google Gemini