Who determines your nursing practice? - The certification question.
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Certification↗
Biomedical subjects
G E Laubach
Publications and source records attributed to G E Laubach.
Routine pregnancy test on admission to hospital.
A pregnancy test should be done routinely on all women of childbearing age upon their admission to any hospital. Some women do not suspect that they are pregnant and some conceal the fact; therefore many pregnancies are interrupted or aborted by procedures contraindicated in pregnancy. A questionnaire was sent to all hospitals of 200 beds or more in the United States and the replies were tabulated. Many do not routinely test for pregnancy.
Adolescent↗
Ill patient with unknown or hidden pregnancy.
Many pregnancies are inadvertently interrupted because diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that are potentially teratogenic are unwittingly instituted. To prevent this ever-present possibility, it is essential that the family physician as well as the hospital's admitting physician know for certain whether a patient in her childbearing years is pregnant. The simple direct question "Are you pregnant?" unfortunately does not always elicit a reliable answer. The patient may not know that she is pregnant, a common occurrence in early pregnancy, or for any of a number of reasons she may choose to conceal her pregnancy. A pregnancy test thus becomes an important diagnostic tool in the armamentarium of every conscientious physician. It should be given routinely to all women of childbearing age before instituting extensive diagnostic x-ray studies, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy that may be contraindicated in pregnancy. Because most contraindicated procedures are performed in a hospital, it is suggested that a pregnancy test on urine be made mandatory on a woman's admission to a hospital.
Adult↗