RN student considering CNM

[jwha]

Hi guys, I'm an RN student, & I struggled with the pace of my med/surg placement (wide range of complex illnesses, drugs, demands, incontinent & morbidly obese pts I need lots of help to clean). I'm starting to feel scared about being a grad nurse, bc I don't feel like I'd be able to keep up!

I'm thinking about doing a midwif masters after my BN. I might be able to handle it better bc the pts have no self-care deficits, most are healthy, & I'd find it easier specialising in a single area of expertise rather than the generality of entry level nursing.

Is midwif as stressful, overwhelming & complicated as med/surg? Or is it even more complicated bc of the wide discretion midwives have re. labour etc? Am I just jumping from the pot to the fire?

[mh8511]

I can't really help you except agree with you that Med/Surg is a really difficult placement. It's very demanding physically like you said. Many feel that you are there to wait on them but have no intent to better themselves or retain any of the teaching you are doing. Especially at our rural hospital, the med/surg floor is basically where everything except ICU gets dumped. You could have an infant or a 100 y.o patient in the same shift. With the vast array of diagnoses and illnesses that you will face, it's nearly impossible to think you could be proficient in all of them at any given time. It would be real easy to feel like an incompetent nurse. That's why I also plan to go into a specialty as soon as I finish my LPN-RN bridge program. Trying to decide if I want to go right to MSN/NP or BSN first...

[Simplyroses]

The beauty of being a nurse is that there is more to nursing than just med-surg, and with 1 in 4 Americans classified as obese, these women are not just healthy/low risk anymore. Pregnant women present with complex illnesses, multiple drug use, multiple demands, and obesity.

Before you leap into the huge financial and time commitment of graduate school, allow yourself to be an RN for a while. You might find you like community health, school nursing, psych nursing, pediatrics, office triage, operating room, or any other variety of nursing. There is a whole world of possibilities that will open once you become an RN. Nursing is a wonderful field, and it is easy to cross-train to different specialties without every going to graduate school.

Only head the CNM route if you are certain that you want to care for well women, sick women, neonates, etc. Also be aware of the lifestyle of CNM's. If you deliver babies, you will share call on weekends, nights, and holidays. Do not make hasty decisions. Give yourself time to know yourself and decide what route is truly right for you!

[Katie71275]

I'm a labor and delivery nurse. Often, these patients do have a lot of complex problems such as chronic hypertension, diabetes, etc. As a midwife you would be responsible for overseeing these problems. I'd highly suggest getting some rn experience...especially in labor and delivery. My hospital has a 1 to 1 ratio...sometimes we may have to take a 2nd patient..and it really helps you to be able to focus your attention on one person. I hated medsurg also.

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

I am a CPM, an RN in LDRP, and a student CNM.

Midwifery is one of the hardest jobs out there. It is emotionally draining, the hours are terrible, and because of the nature of obstetrics, a bad outcome in OB is a tragedy above and beyond the scale that is seen in many other specialties. I don't mean to say that every death/adverse outcome isn't a tragedy, but when a mom or a baby dies or suffers a serious complication, it is. . . shockingly awful.

I definitely WOULD NOT go into midwifery just because you don't like med surg. Midwifery is the worst job in the world. Unless, of course, you love it. Then it is the best job EVER. I couldn't do anything else.