[minky84]

Hi there everyone! I was just wondering if anyone could give some great tips for L&D and peds next semester. I have found I get the best inside tips from people that have lived it! What are the clinicals like? What is the paperwork like? Care plans? Are there in depth patho flowsheets? What is the coolest part of the semester and what was the was the most dreadful? What should I be studying over the summer? And last but not least what was the most interesting thing/event that you saw working in these departments. Thanks in advance!! Bren

[GingerSue]

remembering a little boy with whooping cough

another little boy with cystic fibrosis

another little one crawling - keep the doors closed so they don't swing and slam shut {while the little one is heading for the doorway - close call}

most dreadful - they catch something that quickly results in their weakness and death {I can think of a couple of them}

[OnTheRoad]

I just finished my OB clinicals and I wish I could do them again every semester I haven't done Peds, So I am strictly speaking OB here.
Tips... keep busy and do whatever anyone will let you do. Ask the nurses questions if they do not mind teaching you. Teach your patients something with every interaction if you can (and you can). Never be judgemental (though you may feel like being so sometimes).
Coolest part of OB for me was participating in the birth of a family. The most dreadful was babies in distress having to go to emergency C section and also very very young moms.
If you want to pre study over summer I would go over norms for mom and baby, preeclampsia, eclampsia, hellp, fetal heart rate monitoring (early, late and variable decels and why they happen), and common drugs used in OB.
GL next semester!

[studentrn08e]

i just finished my peds rotation--and i'm moving on to ob. my only advice, and it is difficult-is to try to not get too attached to your lil paitents. i would break my heart seeing them in pain or just wanting mommy or daddy, and they weren't there!! another tip---learn those milestones!!! this will help you identify the abnormal. best of luck next semester!!

[Daytonite]

Hi, Brennyn!

The first thing everyone going into peds and OB need to do is to check their attitudes. Many women think that because they are women or they have gone through the experience of having babies or raising children that OB and Peds is going to be a lot easier. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! OB is complicated and a bit difficult. That's not saying that it can't be learned. With OB you really need to know the normal female anatomy and physiology of the genitourinary system and know it well. You also need to know what the normal cycle and occurrences are during a NORMAL pregnancy, labor and childbirth. That's a lot to know right there. And, you need to know it so it rolls off the tip of your tongue. The other part, and what gets most into a lot of trouble with OB, is when things go wrong--and boy! can they go wrong in OB. Complications to both the mother and the baby abound in OB. I'm going to list some web sites for OB that you should bookmark, but I also am a big believer in having supplemental texts and books. You can find them in libraries, used book stores or just outright buy another OB textbook if you have the money. I have two resources I use here at home to help answer care plan questions for OB patients: (1) the Clinical Companion pocketbook to Foundations of Maternal-Newborn Nursing, 4th edition, by Sharon Smith Murray and Emily Slone McKinney (runs about $20+), and (2) Maternal/Newborn Plans of Care: Guidelines for Individualizing Care, 3rd edition, by Marilynn E. Doenges and Mary Frances Moorhouse.

For pediatrics, you need to know the normal child development skills that you should see at each age and, as in OB, they should roll off the tip of your tongue. Other than that, the physical assessment and treatment of children is modified based upon their age-appropriate behavior. Drug dosages are modified to their age and/or weight.

Here are some links:

http://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/Military_OBGYN/Home.htm - home page. This site includes links to a complete online textbook, laboratory tests commonly ordered in OB/GYN, medications commonly used in OB/GYN, ultrasound and x-ray used in OB/GYN, a large number of useful clinical forms you can download and print, and access to procedure videos that include a vaginal delivery, episiotomy, circumcision, pelvic exam, pap smear and much more. This site was developed for the military corpsmen and has a great deal of good OB information on it.

http://complab.nymc.edu/OBGYN/OBGYN.htm - list of links of lectures, forms and tutorials on a variety of OB subjects from New York Medical College. You can see a slide show presentation of normal and abnormal labor that includes some very nice photographs and drawings to illustrated points here on this site: http://complab.nymc.edu/OBGYN/Labor%20-%20Normal%20and%20Abnormal.pdf

http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/OBSTETRICS_AND_GYNECOLOGY.htm - listing of eMedicines topics on Obstetrics and Gynecology

http://www.childbirths.com/euniversity/mainpage.htm - main page of OB website for students. Links are around the globe with the site logo, eUniversity.

http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_london_maternal_1 - online student companion website for Maternal-Newborn & Child Nursing by Marcia L. London, Patricia A. Ladewig, Jane W. Ball, and Ruth L. Bindler. On the top menu bar of this home page is a drop down arrow where you pick a chapter of interest. Once into these chapters you will find an audio glossary of obstetrical terms (you can access it here http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_london_maternal_1/0,5406,362927-,00.html ), a summary of information in each chapter of the book, NCLEX review questions pertinent to the information from each chapter, case study and care map activities (I did not check to see if you get any feedback as to whether or not your answers to these exercises are correct) and nursing tools that include: abbreviations used in maternity and pediatric nursing, a food guide pyramid, RDAs for females during pregnancy, Recommended Dietary Allowances, Family Assessment, Guidelines for Working with Deaf Clients, Growth Charts (10 pediatric growth charts from birth to age 20), West Normogram, Maternal-Newborn Lab Values including cord blood, Pediatric Lab values, Clinical estimation of gestational age, Actions and effects of selected drugs, maternity critical pathways (for diabetes, epidural anesthesia, hemorrhage in the 3rd trimester, puerperal infection, newborn of a substance abusing mother and newborn with respiratory distress), and a whole slue of pediatric care plans (they only include goals, interventions, rationales, and expected outcomes—no nursing diagnoses). Almost all are in PDF files so you need an Acrobat reader to download and see these files. Each chapter also provides Internet links to more online information.

http://www.emedicine.com/ped/contents.htm - a list of links into subjects covered in pediatrics at the eMedicine website

http://home.coqui.net/titolugo/handbook.htm - Online Pediatric Surgical Handbook for resident doctors and medical students. Links into common surgical problems in children with brief explanations of the treatment.

http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/med/pediatrics/iowaneonatologyhandbook/index.html - the University of Iowa Children's Hospital of Iowa Handbook of Neonatology

Welcome to allnurses!

[minky84]

I wanted to thank everyone for the GREAT responses! I really appreciate you all taking the time to respond to me to help me prepare for next semester. Thanks again!

[medsomething]

Loved these two clinicals!!! I would do twice the clinical time in peds (or OB) if I could replace ICU

Just like your other clinicals, be nice to the nurses, be interested in what they are doing and willing to help in any way, and do your paperwork and you'll be fine!