advice please :) new nurse...

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Hey Everyone!

Thanks everyone in advance for reading this, and for giving me advice. I am a new nurse who has been working 7 months at my hospitals ED. While I really enjoy it, My heart is in L&D. There are currently no l&d positions open at my hospital, but I wanted to call and talk to the nurse manager in l&d. I wanted to ask her what type of qualifications she looks for in applicants who do not have any L&D experience. I would be willing to take any classes or get additional training to help my chances when a position does become available. Would you guys recommend me asking anything else? Or what would you recommend me doing now to better my chances of getting into that department. Again, thank you for your responses :)

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Specializes in L&D.

Consider taking NRP, and a basic fetal monitoring course (AWHONN is a good place to start). Talk to the manager and let her know how interested you are in transferring to the unit. Also find out if you need to talk to nursing administration about officially requesting a department transfer. Eagerness and enthusiasm are important!

My department has had success in recent years in hiring from within the hospital. We've had nurses transfer from tele, med-surg, ICU etc. Good luck to you!

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

As a former NICU manager, I often spoke with candidates who were interested in working in my unit.

I would suggest e-mailing the manager and asking for an "informational" interview. Offer to treat to lunch or coffee in the hospital at her convenience so that you might be able to seek her advice on entering this specialty.

Frankly, I think it is next to useless to take NRP if you have no experience in a delivery setting, and wouldn't recommend wasting your time or money to do so. I don't even suggest that new hires take the course until they have a few months of experience.

I think that you will do more for your chances by establishing a friendly relationship with the manager or a staff nurse willing to be a mentor to you. Good luck!

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Specializes in OB (with a history of cardiac).

I got my job in OB by casually popping in to thank the postpartum manager for such a great unit when I had had my daughter a week or so prior to that. She had no openings at the time, but she was really nice. Later I got a job at the same hospital in tele, and little over a year after that, a position opened in postpartum. I hand-delivered a hard copy of my resume (and applied online) and she actually remembered me! (No, really, she did!) The position I had applied for as specifically made for a current RN on the unit, so it wasn't actually a "real" posting, but a month later a per diem post popped up, and I applied for it, and got an interview just as a regular position opened, and she remembered me and said she hoped I would have applied. And the rest is history.

So, in short. Do it. Your facility might have a thing though about having to stay on your current unit for X number of months, so bear that in mind.

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Specializes in Obstetrics.

Totally agree with Jolie regarding NRP. When I started as a nurse on postpartum, they had me wait almost a year before I took NRP and that helped a great deal, because you've been in the setting and are familiar. Definitely email her and ask. It cannot hurt! Good luck!

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

I also think it's farely useless to take the NRP and certain certifications before working on the unit and gaining some sort of experience. We didn't take it until 3 months in.

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I for one don't think NRP is useless. Those babies scared the crap out of me and after 4weeks that class made me loads more comfortable (they still scare me though!)

Posting from my phone, ease forgive my fat thumbs! :)

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Specializes in Obstetrics.

It's not that it's useless, per say, just that it helped to have that experience with the babies before taking the class. :)

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All your posts have been very encouraging to read. I'm a new grad (December '12) and did my senior practicum/preceptorship in a mother-infant unit and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Never watched the clock, and I was always surprised when my shift was over. "It's 7:00 already??" I've stayed in touch with my preceptor, told her when I passed NCLEX (whew!) but right now, there are no openings on her unit. I just applied for a per diem position in a different unit of the same hospital, but if I could do postpartum for the rest of my career, I'd be a very happy camper! I've shied away from applying for the L&D jobs, though, because I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. I hadn't thought of taking the unit manager out to lunch, though! Now that I've passed state boards, I might look more promising to her for future openings!

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