RE: Pregnancy Risk Assessment

Thorn — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 10:23:21 GMT

Ooh, congratulations! It must be a bit of a shock. Hope you are doing ok!

Your H&S human at work should do a risk assessment with you, which will get repeated a few times, but if your human is a bit slack on this (or if you are the human in charge) it might be worth organizing a sit down meeting with your bosses. The first pregnant person in a practice sometimes gets a raw deal in that regard, just because there is no established protocol, but it also means you get to set up things and thats cool.

So..

GA gases-yep, you have all the things there. I've worked with some nurses who preferred to leave the room for inductions while everything gets cuffed. You also might want to think of gas left in circuits when a patient is being disconnected and moved to another vaporizer. Its worth making a 'Open Gas In Use' sign, too, you your colleagues can easily communicate to you when not to come in.

Heavy lifting- I think this is to do with placenta detachment if you lift awkwardly or strain lifting something heavy. Big dogs is especially worth thinking about but anything that is going to be an awkward load isn't ideal. At a certain point, lifting becomes a bother because you have a bump in the way so you can't lift in the manual handling friendly 'hold it close with elbows tucked in' way. Its also because all your ligaments get stretchy and so it is easier to pull a muscle than it is for usual-you.

Radiation-Ideally, let someone else do it, just in case your machine is faulty and you don't know. It is frustrating!

Yep, zero chemo. Sorry. Ditto felimazole etc. Dodge litter trays. No sheep for you. No primates either. If you can avoid being bitten or scratched, that's useful as some human antibiotics are no good during pregnancy. For a lot of things, though, its more a case of researching and deciding on what you are most comfortable with. Every pregnancy is different and everyone has a different level of risk they are happy with.

Err...what else...

If you are unfortunate enough to get hit hard by morning sickness, have a chat about hours (some people find it is worse at a particular time of day and fit their hours to other times so that they don't have to feel grim at work)

Get a chair for theatre/prep for long GAs if you don't already have one. You don't have to use it but it is good to have the option already there.

Maternity uniforms can be grim but decent scrubs can let you feel like a human (plus they are cool and light). Order a few and trial them, then return the ones that don't work for you. Wee breaks are likely to become a frequent part of the day so try to dodge trousers that need fancy knot work to stay up.

Stock up staff room with decaff tea and decaff coffee and little speedy snacks. Ginger is good for if you feel a bit sick too (tea, ginger chews, ginger biscuits). If you are a bit pukey, consider leaving a toothbrush or mouthwash at work so you can feel nicer. Deodorant can be handy too.

It can be frustrating to be pregnant while nursing, particularly if your colleagues have limited experience working with pregnant people, but being unable to do some things doesn't mean you wont be aceing it on other things. It can be a bit of an identity crisis if you are the practice Fixer but you can still be this person; practice your delegation and set other people onto problems that you see.

Coming back after maternity leave can feel a bit scary, particularly if you haven't taken a career break before, but use and abuse Keep In Touch days so that you feel in the loop. You feel a bit rusty but TBH its a lot like coming back off of holiday. After a few days, you are back in step and back to usual.

Will have a think on more things. Congrats again!

RE: Pregnancy Risk Assessment

apache — Sun, 07 Jul 2019 20:47:13 GMT

If your practice does things safely then you need to do very little.

The lifting thing has been over emphasised and current advice seems to be that you can lift something you were capable of lifting before you were pregnant - until the bump makes it hard. Lots of pregnant ladies manhandling a 15/20kg toddler.

Follow RPA advice, but out of the control zone you are fine.

Gloves when handling drugs. Yes avoid hormones where possible.

Toxo not an issue as the eggs need 10 days to become infectious - you can still do litter trays, sorry!

Does the practice do any farm work? That throws in a few more risks.

Good luck, but don't panic.