Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Laura x — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:46:16 GMT

I found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks ago and told work straight away, it's not worth the risk with lifting etc x

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Tracey Louise — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:37:20 GMT

just realised how old this post is. and i replied lol

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

denise laughlin — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 01:51:10 GMT

[quote user="Claire 'Duke' York RVN MBVNA"]Once an employee announces they are pregnant there are two areas of practice they are no longer allowed near under ANY circumstances - Radiography and Anaesthesia[/quote]

Claire-any chance you've got the source of this information?

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Claire Cameron — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:02:19 GMT

[quote user="Nick 'Batfink' Shackleton DipAVN(Surgical)VN MBVNA"]

Can I throw a cat among the pigeons.............

As many of you know I know work in the human field of radiography and many of the girls I work with have been or currently pregnant.

most of them move away from screening (fluroscopy) and theatre. The latter is mainly to do with the harmful anaesthetic gases, but also because there is not adequate lead screening in theatre between the c-arm and the pregnant worker. And fluroscopy produces high doses of radiation.

A pregnant worker can continue working in an X ray department as long as there is reasonable assurance that the foetal dose can be kept below 1 mGy during the pregnancy. In interpreting this recommendation, it is important to ensure that pregnant women are not subjected to unnecessary discrimination. There are responsibilities for both the worker and the employer. The first responsibility for the protection of the conceptus lies with the woman herself, who should declare her pregnancy to management as soon as the condition is confirmed. The following recommendations are taken from ICRP 84:

http://rpop.iaea.org/RPOP/RPoP/Content/SpecialGroups/1_PregnantWomen/PregnancyAndRadiology.htm#PregRadiol_FAQ08

[/quote]

I was X-Rayed last year by a heavily pregnant lady

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:40:19 GMT

Can I throw a cat among the pigeons.............

As many of you know I know work in the human field of radiography and many of the girls I work with have been or currently pregnant.

http://rpop.iaea.org/RPOP/RPoP/Content/SpecialGroups/1_PregnantWomen/PregnancyAndRadiology.htm#PregRadiol_FAQ08

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

loobylou — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:41:24 GMT

Just in case anyone is interested, we've been looking into this and the VMD have put a blanket ban on all gas anaesthetics for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers. So that means no monitoring anaesthetics, no being in the theatre while they are being used and no being in the recovery area where they might be being expired.
I cant put my hands on the info or the link right now but once I do I will post it up.

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:24:52 GMT

I realise this is an oldish post - but just in case anyone else has the same quandry - check your contract. Most state that you have to tell your employer as soon as you know.

If you choose, you can get them to do your risk assessment etc AND keep it confidential. How practical this will be will depend on the individual practice. One of my nurses told me at 6 weeks and we were able to modify her workload so that she didn't need to tell the rest of the practice for a further 6 weeks. So you may be able to do both??

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

fiona pitchfork — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:48:38 GMT

don't risk the babies health or yours. Tell her I know it's hard but just think of it like a plaster quick and to the point

CONGRATULATIONS though

Fiona Doncaster

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Kim Buckley — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:38:52 GMT

I know that in my old practice when a nurse got pregnant she was taken off the night and weekend rota as it was very likely she'd have to do x-rays and GA's.

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

loobylou — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:35:09 GMT

We're just updating our H&S info and I wondered if anyone knew where I could get some veterinary specific info? Was thinking of trying bvna helpline?
It's really in regards to dafety of anaesthetics, radiography and any specific drugs to steer clear of. Everything else seems pretty general.

Also wondered what other practices do? In the past we've stopped nurses doing all ga's, xrays and heavy lifting which has required them to come off the weekend rota. Are other practices this strict?

Many thanks.

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Gemma s — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:01:11 GMT

congratulations!!

i am preg to, now 19weeks but felt the same when i 1st found out. Was worried it was to early to tell people but ended up having to tell my head vet as i was in theatre the week i found out. I have only just had a risk ass! im doing anaesthetics but not masking, no lifting over 7kgs and xrays im banned from!

Ensure you wear gloves for dispensing and try not to touch any cat pooh! Double or triple glove if you have to.

You have to put you and the baby 1st!

Gem

xxx

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Nicola Smith — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:42:18 GMT

Most people I have worked with have steered clear of xrays but have done GAs except masking down or similar where big risk of exposure.

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Maisy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:41:24 GMT

Congratulations!

I would agree about telling your boss, a proper risk assessment can be carried out and any adjustments made re anaesthetics, GAs etc.

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Claire Cameron — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:24:38 GMT

I did some research recently...this may be of some use to you

Once an employee announces they are pregnant there are two areas of practice they are no longer allowed near under ANY circumstances - Radiography and Anaesthesia

an employer MUST perform a risk assessment immediately upon being advised that an employee is pregnant. There are a number of cases whereby employers have been fined for failure to carry out the initial first risk assessment for 2 or 3 weeks. Also a practice must already have in place a general "New and expectant mothers" risk assessment even if no one is pregnant.

http://www.rcvs.org.uk/shared_asp_files/gfsr.asp?nodeid=97574 - info from RCVS

http://www.hse.gov.uk/mothers/ Health and safety for new and expectant mothers

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg373.pdf A guide for new and expectant mothers who work

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg334.pdf Working safely with ionising radiation: Guidelines for expectant or breastfeeding mothers

http://books.hse.gov.uk/hse/public/home.jsf health and safety pregnancy books

http://www.tommys.org/Page.aspx?pid=602&nccsm=15&__nccscid=55&__nccsct=Pregnancy+publications+for+professionals tons of publications you might find useful

http://www.tommys.org/Page.aspx?pid=602&nccsm=21&__nccscid=55&__nccsct=Pregnancy+publications+for+professionals&__nccspID=889 - toxoplasmosis

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:21:48 GMT

I am pretty sure that by law, you are supposed to tell your employer as soon s you know... so that all necessary precautions can be put into place. dont quote me on it though.

Re: Pregnant, and only nurse in practice

Claire Cameron — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:14:26 GMT

Congratulations!

I have to be honest if I were you I'd be telling people sooner rather than later it's not worth the risk!