Several crucial support areas should be considered when evaluating the patient flow and
floor plan of an L&D unit. Theses include pharmacy, anesthesia workroom, clinical engineering,
and equipment storage. During labor, contractions can cause much discomfort,
which will cause patients to request pain medications. The doctor will select the most
appropriate medicines, taking into account the medical condition of the mother and her
baby. In the hospital, these medications are controlled and administered by a pharmacist
and anesthesiologist. The anesthesia workroom is usually located in the same area as the
operating rooms to facilitate anesthetics administration if necessary. A pharmacist will
distribute the medications that the doctor chooses; these medications are usually analgesics.
They are sometimes administered by injection to help relieve the pain associated
with contractions. Typically, a pharmacy on the maternity unit consists of a medication
station. Such a station can be a self-contained medicine-dispensing unit, which usually
requires a key or code to access. These devices also will record and document the clinician
who administers the medication, the time of administration, and the amount administered.
In large maternity units, there may be more than one medication station. Clinical
engineering’s main responsibility is to create and implement an equipment management
program to support the operation of the medical devices in the hospital, and it may have
a satellite workroom on the maternity floor