Ep. 5 The Surprising Way Nurses Impact Labor Outcomes

 Can labor nurses actually influence birth outcomes? And if so… how? In this episode, Heidi surprises Jen with a research study about nurse influence on labor outcomes—and the findings are not what either of us expected. Together, we react in real time to what the research says about bedside nursing, labor progress, interventions, and the factors that may shape patient outcomes in labor and delivery. This conversation goes beyond the simplistic idea that “good nurses get better outcomes” and digs into the more complicated reality of systems, staffing, patient variability, physiology, communication, and bedside decision-making. Along the way, we talk about what nurses can influence, what we probably overestimate, and why conversations about outcomes in labor and delivery deserve more nuance than social media usually allows. If you’ve ever wondered how much impact bedside nurses really have—or felt pressure to personally “own” every outcome—this episode is for you. Why This Matters   Labor nurses spend more continuous time with patients than almost anyone else on the care team. But conversations about nursing influence on outcomes can quickly become oversimplified—either placing unrealistic responsibility on nurses or ignoring the ways bedside care truly matters. 👉 Understanding what research actually says about nurse influence helps support more realistic, evidence-based conversations about labor, teamwork, systems, and patient care.   ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Intro + Heidi surprises Jen with the study02:00 – First reactions to the research05:00 – What the study actually found08:00 – Nurse influence vs system influence11:00 – The emotional weight nurses carry around outcomes14:00 – What bedside nurses can influence Study Links: T.Tiwari, E. W.VanGompel, J. P.Selig, et al., “Personal Birth Experiences and Clinician Attitudes About Cesarean Birth: A Cross-Sectional Study With Female Labor and Delivery Unit Staff,” Birth (2026): 1–8, https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.70062. Edmonds, J. K., Yehezkel, R., Liao, X., & Simpson, K. R. (2017). Variation in cesarean birth rates by labor and delivery nurse staffing. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 46(5), 707–716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2017.03.009 Roberts, K., & Alba, B. (2025). Work Experience and Attitudes About Birth in Relation to Nurses' Cesarean Rates for Women With Low-Risk Pregnancies. Journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing : JOGNN, 54(4), 450–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2025.04.004