please tell me about your OB clinicals

S.N. Visit, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

My OB clinicals were wonderful! We were not allowed to perform cervix checks. I did insert a Foley. We could insert IV's (i didn't get an oppourtunity though.) I observed during delivery & C-secs. I helped hold legs, gave back rubs, took vitals and fundal checks on mom; bathed and dressed , held, rocked, fed and performed daily head to toe assessments on infant; did circ checks and vitals. Recorded I&O's & gave rhogam shots, passed meds & general nursing duties. Taught breast-feeding to new mom. (I personally have 8yrs experience)

We were not allowed to give shots to infants. I loved the nursery the most. It was a great experience for me. My clinicals weren't at a high risk delivery hospital.

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Aug 13, 2006

For my OB rotation, there were 4 mommies and babies that all had delievered and 3 nurses, no scheduled sections, no nothing the rest of the day. I mainly watched my nurse plan her lunch, balance her checkbook and call various friends all day. We did discharge 2 patients that day and I got to walk them to their car but that was done by 10 a.m. and we had no patients the rest of the day........But before we discharged one, I did get to do a head to toe on both mom and the baby - that was at least "something" that day.........

Now other people in my clinical group had MUCH better OB rotations than me, they actually got to watch a section AND a delievery, the whole 9 yards. None of them actually had to "do" anything they weren't comfortable with - they mainly just watched the RN do it all. It's a speciality field and where we do our clinicals - we just watch in those departments unless we feel comfortable doing.

My Peds rotation, the floor was closed d/t low census, so I get to do that one this semester. Others said they got to give meds, help with baths, do head to toe assessments, play with the kids. All of them said the RN's are particular with the kids (as they very well should be) so they were very closely supervised at all times when they did anything. Again, that is a speciality unit where I do my clinicals and we don't do much in those units but watch.

Imafloat, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

We took turns in mother/baby, labor and delivery, NICU, and the well baby nursery. We did assessments, saw both vag and csect births, cared for babies, helped with circs (cleaning babies, getting them ready, assessing afterwards), I found an umbilical hernia that had been missed by other care providers. I LOVED my OB clinicals the most. We had a guy in our clinical group and he had a great experience too. It is a refreshing clinical, you are with people during a healthy time in their lives. They are able to talk to you and are receptive to your teaching. The nursing care you give in mother baby is very close to the nursing school nursing we are taught. Don't be nervous, enjoy yourself.

Jolie, BSN · Aug 13, 2006

I don't start back to school until the middle end of september. But we will be doing maternity. I am totally freaked out. I am not exactly sure why. This clinical as well as peds (following OB) have been something that I have not been looking forward to. Mainly I don't think I have a lot of interest, but also because it seems like so much could go wrong with pregnant women and I have heard that kids can go down the drain quickly.
Anyway....can anyone tell me what they actually did do during OB clinical. I realize there will probably be a lot of observing during actual delivery, but were you actually checking dialation and such?
Thanks

I worked for a number of years on a 14 room LDRP unit with a Level II NICU where we had students from both LPN and RN programs. The unit housed high-risk ante-partum moms, labor patients, post-partum moms and babies, had 2 self-contained OR's, and an 8-bed NICU. The students were initially assigned 1 mother-baby couplet, 1 high-risk ante-partum mom, or a laboring mother. They worked in tandem with the staff nurse assigned to their patients, and had their instructor present on the floor.

They received their patient assignments the evening before, and were expected to be able to do a physical assessment of both mom and baby, provide routine care and teaching, (such as IV and Foley care on post-C-section patients), be knowledgable about medications, know potential complications.

No one was expected to be capable of skills that they had never been exposed to before such as checking cervical dilation (not done during this rotation), reading fetal monitor strips (only done with RN supervision), or managing epidurals (anesthesia's job).

Many students fear OB for the reasons you have stated. As long as you prepare by reading up on what is normal and what is abnormal, keep your staff nurse and instructor informed of your patient's status, request help whenever you are unsure of yourself, you will do fine. Just like any other rotation, the students who get into trouble are the ones who are overly-confident, cocky know-it-alls.

I later managed the NICU in that hospital, and asked the OB instructor to allow students to observe in our unit. I loved having them there, and invited one back to do her senior practicum. (It was a great experience for all of us!)

I only had one bad experience with a student. She was given clear instructions on how to do vitals on a preemie, who to report them to, and NOT to feed the baby or chart anything until the staff nurse had double checked her work. She didn't follow the instructions, charted an inaccurate assessment, and created a situation where the neonatologist almost cancelled the baby's discharge after reading her charting. I immediately marched her down to her instructor who later confided in me that this particular studnet had been a "problem" all along and would be reviewed before being allowed to return to clinical. My point is that things like this don't happen to conscientious students!

You will be fine! Keep us posted on how things go!

MIA-RN1, RN · Aug 13, 2006

my ob clinical was kind of boring. for three expereiences we were on the postpartum side, so it was basically care of the mother and baby. We did assessments but with our co-assigned nurse right there. I watched a couple circs, did fundus checks and there were a few things like social work referral, lactation referral. It was really very much unlike my real world experience as a postpartum nurse. (Real life is way more fun.) Maybe because I work at a different hospital. It is true that babies can go downhill quick but as a student your will have a coassigned nurse for just that reason. I also spent a day in the newborn nursery but that wasn't so bad either. I practiced assessments a lot and saw jaundice in a newborn before anyone else did. And a day in NICU but again, I was not responsible for patient care, it was more an observation although I did feed a baby.

The second half was L&D and that was BORING. I watched one Csection which was cool but since I really don't like surgical nursing it didn't do much for me but I did really like taking care of the mom in recovery afterward and doing the baby assessment then. Then I just had a couple weeks of patients in early labor where I didn't do much at all but bring them stuff to drink or watching the monitors for fetal heart rhythms etc.

It was the least scary rotation for me because I knew I was well-supported by staff and my instructor, due to the enormity of the responsibility of caring for newborns. Plus I found out that postpartum is where I wanted to work.

sydie · Aug 14, 2006

OB rotation...but I want to work in L&D, so the RN's wanted me to get as much hands-on experience as possible. I did 2 foleys, assisted with several vag births, 3 c-sections where I helped as "baby nurse" and gave baby the vitamin K injection and eye ointment and the first bath, I also checked for dilation on my last day. In post-partum I did a lot of teaching, and full assessments on mom and baby.

In peds we had a lot of RSV/respiratory problems to care for. We gave meds, took vitals, and helped wherever we could. The nurses were very receptive and I got to see a lot.

Good luck...try to find the fun and learning in the rotation, and go with it!