EP2: Where Compassion Meets Innovation: Inside Fetal Care Nursing

Fetal care nursing is one of medicine's most specialized — and least visible — roles. In this episode of The Fetal Frontline, host Kris Rimbos sits down with Melissa Dorn, a fetal care nurse with more than two decades in fetal therapy, for a grounded, honest look at what the work really involves.Melissa breaks her job into four "buckets" — handling the intake and triage of referrals, connecting with anxious families before they ever arrive, centering care in the OR during fetal procedures, and logging every case to the research and NAFNet registry. Along the way she explains the conditions she sees most — twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, selective growth restriction, lower urinary tract obstruction, fetal anemia — how she coordinates a dozen specialties as "the hub that connects all the dots," and how she supports families through the hardest decisions a pregnancy can hold, without judgment. She also opens up about making memories for families, guarding her own well-being, and where she sees the specialty heading.In this episode:- What a fetal care nurse actually does, day to day — the "four buckets" of the work- The conditions and procedures at the heart of fetal therapy- Care coordination: keeping a dozen specialties on the same page- Meeting families in crisis — education without overwhelm, trust, and grief- Ethics and complex decisions, held with compassion and zero judgment- Making memories, caring for the caregiver, and the future of the fieldChapters:- 0:00 — The clinical voices in fetal care- 1:13 — From med-surg to fetal therapy- 4:35 — A day in four buckets- 8:42 — Conditions, procedures & core skills- 10:03 — Care coordination: the hub- 12:47 — Meeting families in crisis- 15:12 — The interdisciplinary team- 17:21 — Ethics & complex decisions- 19:53 — Making memories- 20:46 — Caring for the caregiver- 23:03 — Where fetal care nursing is heading- 25:47 — Closing reflectionGuest: Melissa Dorn, MN, RN — fetal care nurse, 20+ years in fetal therapy nursing.Host: Kris Rimbos — host of The Fetal Frontline and an FTNN board member.