Obs
The short definition
Obs is hospital shorthand for observations — the routine checks a midwife or nurse does and writes on a chart.
What it actually means
"Obs" is said so often on a ward that nobody expands it. It means the standard set of checks: breathing, pulse, blood pressure, temperature, oxygen levels and how awake somebody is.
They go on a printed chart at the end of the bed. In NSW, mothers get a Standard Maternal Observation Chart — a SMOC — and newborns get a Standard Neonatal Observation Chart, a SNOC. That is why there are two different sheets.
Obs happen on a schedule, not because something has gone wrong. For a maternity inpatient, NSW Health sets a minimum of four times a day, at six-hourly intervals. One full set is also done before leaving the birth room. A midwife arriving to do obs is the system working normally.
Where Dadda will hear it
Constantly, and always abbreviated. "I'll just do her obs." "Bub's obs are due." "We'll keep an eye on his obs overnight."
He will hear it most in the first day or two after the birth. The ward's whole rhythm is built around the obs round and the feeds.
Not to be confused with
- The obstetrician. Different word, similar start. An obstetrician is a doctor who specialises in medical care during pregnancy and birth. Obs are the checks, and any midwife or nurse does them.
- A CTG. A CTG is a machine that records the baby's heart rate and the contractions continuously during labour. Obs are a set of checks done at intervals, on mother and baby separately.