Midwife NURSES

[daisy16]

While I am deciding on my future career as a nurse I contiune to have more questions to ask, first of all how would you describe the role of a OB-GYN nurse? Are there any specific classes I should take in high school to get into a nursing program? During clinicals is there any way you can do you train in the birthing center? If you have you ADN rather then your ADN is it harder to get a job position as a Mid-Wife nurse? Is getting a job as a Mid-wife competitive and really hard to get in?

[ERNurse752, RN]

Well, I'm not a labor/delivery nurse, I'm an ER nurse, but I'll go ahead and share my view on things!

OB was my favorite clinical...there are a lot of different things to do and learn about in L/D. It combines high tech with high touch, aka you really get to be there for your pt and make a difference in their birth experience. It can be a really happy place, but also high stress, and when things go wrong, it's really bad.

As far as high school classes go, take algebra, biology, chemistry, anatomy and physiology, genetics -- basically, take as much math, science, and health science as you can. It will help you *so* much when you take all these classes at the college level.

I'm not sure about training in a birthing center...if there's one in your area, go ahead and give them a call to see.

To be a Certified Nurse Midwife, you have to have a Master's degree. So if that's what you think you want to do, your best bet in college would be to get your BSN right from the start. That way you'll only have to go back to school to get your master's. Also, most programs require that you have at least 2 years of nursing experience before you start a master's degree program. It sounds like a long time, but it makes sense to get good at it first, before you become an expert in your field as an advance-practice nurse. It takes awhile to learn how to be a nurse -- I'm still learning the role, plus my job specific stuff (I graduated in May).

I hope some of this helps you. If you have any more questions you can send me a private message through this board.

Happy Thanksgiving!

:)

[Dayray, RN]

I'd also recommend taking speech, sociology and psychology and possibly some humanities. The speech because communication skills are needed all the time i.e.. Getting what you know you patient needs from the doctor (without bruising their ego), dealing with patients and family members that are angry, scared sad, or just generally creepy. Sociology because understand your patients social issues and cultural background will help you care for them better. Humanities because they can help you form a more abstract way of viewing things ...this is a big help as you will encounter situations that will test your emotional and spiritual strength.

I think its great you have decided what you want to do at such a young age. I've read a few of your posts and I think your doing the right thing by getting some information before you have to decide on a college program. My best advise would be to get a job in a hospital either now or the summer after high school. There are many different paths you could take in healthcare. I've seen allot of people who went threw 4 or 5 years of college and hate nursing so its best to know for sure you like working as a nurse as much as you like the idea of it. I personally love nursing and wouldn't trade it for anything but I worked in many different healthcare positions before I became a nurse so I knew what I wanted.

Good luck daisy! I look forward to your future posts and to the day when I see RN, LPN or CNM behind your name