New Nurses Innovate Care for Postpartum Moms
Sometimes, it doesn’t take that long to make a profound change for the better. Three new nurses, Danielle Neels, Lexus Robinson and Maddie Schmidt, embodied this idea through a groundbreaking nurse residency project.
New Bryan Medical Center nurses with fewer than six months of experience are automatically enrolled in the nurse residency program. They meet once a month for four-hour sessions for a year, starting work on a group project halfway through the program.
The three nurses began their residency in February 2023. Neels and Robinson work in the mother and baby unit, and Schmidt is a labor and delivery nurse. The trio wanted to develop a project that would apply to both units. They quickly saw a need to address pelvic floor dysfunction, which many women experience after giving birth. This condition can cause problems with using the bathroom and pelvic pain.
At the end of March 2025, the trio presented their research poster at the Vizient/AACN Nurse Residency Program Conference in Orlando, Florida.
Beckie Trevino, a clinical educator at Bryan, said the goal of the nurse residency program is to build on – not repeat – nursing school curriculum. The program also focuses on wellness and professional development, with nurses setting goals for their career.
“It’s all about teaching you how to take on this new role and fall in love with your job rather than just show up to work,” Neels said.
The groups get to pick their project topic, though Trevino said they are encouraged to consider something relevant to their unit that would improve workflow and/or patient outcomes. The nurses work on their projects for the last six months of the program, culminating in a poster presentation.
“We tell them they are making dinner, not solving world hunger,” Trevino said. “We don’t expect a huge project, just something they think could be done better.”
The three nurses identified that pelvic floor dysfunction is often an unaddressed aspect of pregnancy and should be talked about before, during and after delivery. To narrow the focus of their project, they decided to prioritize postpartum research and development.
The nurses created a postpartum teaching sheet for women about symptoms of and exercises for pelvic floor dysfunction. The sheet, now included in a folder for all postpartum patients, raises awareness about the condition and tips for prevention and treatment.
Ultimately, the group strove to break stigmas around the topic.
“A lot of women are having problems with this, and it’s something that nobody is talking about,” Robinson said. “So we really wanted to break down the door and do something about this.”
While the trio worked on their project, they a physical therapy group was also working to establish a physical therapist on the mother and baby unit. The groups met to discuss how to make this dream a reality.
“We came together and said, ‘OK, here’s the nursing side, and here’s the physical therapist side of this,’ and that further demonstrated the demand,” Robinson said. “We as nurses saw a problem, but then you have physical therapists confirming the need for this.”
Today, there are two full-time therapists working on the unit. They work with patients after delivery on stretches to prevent or address pelvic floor issues in the months following childbirth. They can also refer patients to a therapist to visit outside the hospital.
Trevino said she is proud of what the trio were able to accomplish and the impact they have already had as new Bryan Health nurses.
“It just gives me goosebumps every time I talk about it,” she said. “They took an idea and affected a change that has improved outcomes for their patients.”
