Anyone start out med/surg?

[sameasalways]

I have seen a few openings in the past year for Labor/Delivery nurses in my area. I have always loved helping new moms with breastfeeding and women's health in general. I feel I have a good understanding of women's health (generally speaking). I have been working a very busy Med/Surg/Ortho unit since Sept '09. I am still really interested in working anywhere regarding women's health/Labor/Delivery/Contraception/Breastfeeding but I am really nervous about doing it now because I feel like I am so used to Med/Surg now that I have forgotten most of the Mother/Baby stuff we learned in nursing school. I know when I started as a nurse everyone said to get Med/Surg experience but I do feel like I have forgotten the details of dealing with the labor/delivery/post-partum care of a patient now. Should I just apply and realize that if I am hired I will have a lot to learn and is that okay? Or do they expect someone with no labor/delivery experience to know everything about what to do in each situation? The drugs ect are all totally different:redbeathe. Thanks so much!

[delvenia]

i did home health my first 6 mo out of nursing school (hated it), i then did med/surg with telemetry for the last 18 months. just transferred to L&D on 11/7/11 and I feel like a complete idiot nurse with no experience most of my days. Everything is so different and some of the nurses are just plain evil!!! In our L&D we do our own triage, and we also rotate to operating room and post-op for our c-section patients. have have our own 2 operating rooms and post op rooms on our locked unit. it is very overwhelming and i am starting to wonder if i made the right choice. This is what i wanted to do since i was a child, but boy is it hard and the other nurses with their sarcasm and pure evilness sure doesnt help.

thanks for your comment. i feel like an idiot almost everyday. very discouraging:crying2:

[delvenia]

I worked Med/surg for about 1 1/2 years before transferring to OB (where I've been working for almost 8 yrs). OB is sometimes a tough field to break into, because directors typically give preference to applicants who have OB experience. Usually it is easier to get hired to an antepartum or mom/baby unit then L&D, so if you're ultimately wanting to work L&D you may need to apply for a position in a mom/baby or antepartum unit & then bridge to L&D.

It will feel a little like you're starting over when you start a new specialty. I remember that my first few weeks I felt like I was "all thumbs" (partially because I was working at a new hospital with very different equipment). But typically you will regain confidence more quickly because you have experienced "settling in" before. And there are a few skill that do transfer.

I agree that med/surg is a great starter experience. I will occasionally run into situations in OB (like giving heparin or blood, etc) where the nurses that have only worked OB are very uncomfortable, but I know what to do because of my old med/surg experience.

thanks for your comment. i feel like an idiot almost everyday. very discouraging:crying2:

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i started out in med/surg as did most of my classmates. i learned a little about a lot of disease processes and a lot about being a nurse, taking care of patients, dealing with physicians and ancillary services. i grew up, became an adult and learned about being an employee and a coworker. when i was ready to go to icu, they hired me on the spot. orienting to the icu was a piece of cake -- i already had a broad knowledge base, i just had to build on it. i already knew the basics and could slap in an iv, ng and foley while reassuring anxious patients and guiding brand new doctors. i knew what kind of questions to ask and what i should look up on my own.

i've noticed over the years that the nurses who start out in med/surg last longer, are generally happier in whatever job they end up in, and aren't as subject to burnout. dh, who started in icu says the same thing.