Relationship HCPs/Family Online Course(s) & Continuing Education

Beneath the surface of every labor and delivery room interaction between physicians, nurses, and patients (as well as their partners) vibrate the pressures of power. Who is in charge? Regardless of the stated beliefs or legal truth about who IS in charge, the dance between the characters in the labor room often plays out archetypally. Archetypes are a recurrent symbol or motif found in literature, art, or mythology that live within the unconscious influencing how individuals behave, think, and feel. While many archetypal energies are possible during labor, the dominant archetypal energies active in a labor room tend to vacillate between that of Caretaker, Orphan, Ruler, Hero, Innocent, and Warrior. Nurses, often drawn to the career to help others, connect with the Caretaker archetype. However, due in part to hierarchical structures within the hospital setting, nurses can be left feeling unseen, undervalued, or powerless activating the Orphan archetype. Comparable patterns can be observed in obstetricians with the Ruler and Hero and in parents with the Innocent and Warrior archetypes. Without consciousness of the power dynamics between these archetypal energies, satisfaction in both the process and outcome is often fleeting for parents and can lead to burnout in professionals. Greater understanding of the needs of each activated archetype provides individuals needed guidance in how to better navigate labor room power dynamics and why doing so matters profoundly.

"The role of nurses has often been dictated by those outside the profession. First, we were seen as doctors' handmaidens, which informed a collective consciousness that we were only valuable in support of paternalistic healthcare. As the role of nurses expanded, the public came to recognize our unique skills, identified us as the most trustworthy profession over two decades, and labeled us heroes. In response, we have positioned ourselves as a neutral identity that is ""just there to help."" However, this helper or savior identity has several negative ramifications including a preoccupation with how our care might be judged in the event of an unexpected outcome, which ultimately creates a divide between us & those in our care. Nurses benefit from identification of and reflection on their motivation for pursuing nursing, their current care practices, and how they can shift their mindset to release the rigidity, guilt, and fear that is associated with saviorism. We cannot allow patterns of saviorism to continue to dominate our profession. The health of our patients & ourselves depends on us stepping away from ""helping"" and into a standard of trauma-informed advocacy."