[ERNurse752]

I've been in the ER for about 7-8 months now, and I've been thinking of transferring to L/D. OB was my favorite clinical in school, but I always wanted to do ER too. I'm becoming comfortable enough in my role to think about exapanding to something new...with the hope of eventually working both ER and L/D simultaneoulsy. Ya never know...just a thought I thought I'd share!

[babynurselsa]

I would recommend working at least a few more months in the ER before trying to change. Most places won't count an area as experience until you give it at least a year. personally, I think
a yearand a half to two years to be well grounded in the skills and knowledge base in the ER would be bettter before trying to learn a whole new area.
Take your time, but go for it!! I have a great friend that I worked ER with that went to L&D, who still works part-time in the ER.

[fergus51]

Ditto.
It can be really hard to maintain your ER skills and learn OB at the same time unless the ER knowledge is really entrenched in your brain (only you know how much time this will take for you). Our orientation for L&D is six months, during which time you can't work on any other floors.

[mother/babyRN]

Don't forget, both areas are actually critical care areas, and often you encounter the same issues and situations in a different venue, from social, psychological, medical and otherwise..You still have to deal (sometimes), with trauma (such as a pregnant person in an MVA or battered), rape victims,Dic, Pih, HELLP, pulmonary edema, cardiac difficulties, diabetes and a host of other stuff. Most of the time people will grin and tell you that OB is a great place to work, and it IS, BUT along with the above examples and countless others, coupled with fetal demises and the all around scary (er like) pace of the place, you just might find the similarities surprising...I have worked critical care and until I got to delivery ( which I LOVE, by the way), I have never been so frightened...Things happen in a flash, and when its good it is really good. When things go bad, there is rarely much time and you are caring for two human beings, one of whom you cannot see to evaluate...It is most definitely worth it, and some one who loves the er would probably love the thrill of delivery...Good luck to you!

[ERNurse752]

Yeah, it's definitely not a bowl of cherries all the time. My best friend went to her 37 week checkup, and there were no FHT. She was induced, and delivered an otherwise normal baby girl with nuchal cord x 2. I was present throughout the whole thing, and it's probably the saddest thing I've ever seen.

I've found that I'm really drawn to the pregnant/post-partum/infant pts in the ER...it's just fascinating stuff, including the complications that you mentioned abvove.

Honestly, I probably will wait awhile to try L/D...but once I get an idea in my head, it's hard to wait.

Thanks for everyone's input.