OB rotation

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2005

We began our OB hospital clinical on week #2, after one day of OB lecture. Ideally, the classroom material and clinical experiences should complement each other. I guess what would concern me in your case would be whether the clinical instructor is on the same page as the college faculty. It wouldn't hurt to ask if they are in communication during your clinical orientation.

Altra, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2005

We began our OB hospital clinical on week #2, after one day of OB lecture. Ideally, the classroom material and clinical experiences should complement each other. I guess what would concern me in your case would be whether the clinical instructor is on the same page as the college faculty. It wouldn't hurt to ask if they are in communication during your clinical orientation.

Agree -- this would concern me as well.

All of our specialty classes (OB, peds, psych & critical care) are second year, so we function pretty independently in all of them. But our responsibilities are very well outlined. These classes are also front-loaded with theory - we have 5 or 6 days of class (about 6 hours per day) to get familiar with issues, meds, procedures, etc. before we go to clinicals.

Good luck to you. :)

JudithL_in_NH · Jan 15, 2005

What I was wondering, is this a common thing to be sent to clinical without any classroom teaching? I guess I will be studying a lot of chapters this weekend:uhoh3:

In my program, yes. There are only a few clinical sites that the 50 of us have to rotate through, so one often is in a placement that does not match the current theory lectures, or that one hasn't learned about at all yet.

It was confusing in first year, as by second semester we still hadn't done any major organ systems--just the basic care stff, legal stuff, and foundational stuff like fluids and electrolytes and basic pharmacology. There were students in OB when we had only just started the lectures, and students on cardiac floors when we had done no cardiac at all yet. I was on a med/surg post op floor, and had many GI patients--well, we studied GI issues in third semester, so I was totally in the dark. Had to do massive prep the night before clinical, but the payoff was that when we did get to third semester lectures, I had already done most of the reading and had a good understanding of the material.

We were expected to independently learn what we needed to know to care for our pts competently, whether we had had the material in lecture of not.

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2005

A nurse from one of the hospitals was my clinical instructor and she was wonderful! So I think in that regard you'll be fine. She taught us so much during each of our clinical rotations last semester (L&D, nursery, PP).

But at the beginning of last semester (before we started our OB rotations) we had an extensive lab beforehand. For 4 days we were in the lab, 7 hours each day, for a total of 28 hours lab preparation. It helped a lot and gave us all a foundation before heading into clinicals. Would we have been ok without it though? Absolutely. Of course it helped and it was nice to have, but it was all basic stuff (how to swaddle a baby, normal fundal checks, normal lochia, newborns - how to weigh/measure, bathe, take all vitals, placement of fetal/contraction monitors, etc, etc) It was information overload, a lot to learn in a short amount of time but it gave us an overview of everything we'd see in clinicals. However, you will learn all of this in clinicals even if you don't have all the knowledge now, just let the nurses know how much you're familiar with, they'll work with you. The nurses we had in OB were great, they explained everything ... it was a great learning experience.

Also our instructors gave us chapters that they recommended we read before certain clinical rotations. Maybe you can ask if there's certain chapters they recommend you read in order to prepare for the clinical rotation? Tell them about your concerns. I'm sure you'll be just fine though, I really enjoyed last semester's OB/peds rotations. Good luck!

Love4Me, RN · Jan 15, 2005

We had a 3 hour lecture on legal and ethical issues in OB. The next day we had a 7 hour lab showing us vidoes of births and abductions. We also got to see some infant blankets, diapers, formal, breastpumps, and a manaquinn with a boggy uterus. The next day we were sent to the hospital for clinicals.

When we got there we had a one hour orientation to the hospital and then were sent on the unit to do mother assessments. Our instructor ran us through the assessment and then moved onto the next student. I left my patients room feeling like a complete idiot.

Our clinical instructor gave us a bunch of topics to read before our next clinical day. So I have about 10 chapters to cover this weekend to get prepared for Wednesday's clinical.

chilloutrelax · Jan 19, 2005

Yes, it's normal. They should have some sort of reading assignment for you before you go somewhere. I'm starting ob this semester too...and we start next week. Of course I don't know anything, but I know we have reading assignments before we go so we have an understanding of it all. For my clinical, as of a few days ago, we still didn't have an instructor(only for my particular time). It'll work out, you can't be expected to know everything before you go to clinical. You'll catch on.

megamoo1979 · Jan 19, 2005

This is normal in our program. We have 3 modules this semester: peds, psych, and ob. Each module is 5 weeks long and you start clinicals the same week you start lecture for each module.

Megan