I'm about 2 months into my orientation on a busy L&D floor. My first RN job. The past few weeks I find myself secretly hoping that my pt won't deliver on my shift and wishing for easy early induction patients, where all I have to do is go up on the pit and chart vitals signs and FHR and contraction patterns.
L&D has been my dream job for years and I love childbirth. But it's sort of lost its thrill already. Is that possible? It seems odd that something so amazing, that used to make me cry, now seems mundane.
Or am I just overwhelmed on orientation and looking for a break from the craziness and stress and pressure and tons of charting that comes along with deliveries?
Maybe once I'm more comfortable and confident in my skills, I can focus more on the job of helping women deliver babies, and enjoying the experience. Instead of stressing about keeping up on the charting, FHR decels, tying the OBs gown, getting my cord blood/gases, hanging the postpartum pit, worrying that she might be bleeding too much and I'll have to run and get hemabate etc.
Lately I find myself fantasizing about transferring to peds. Maybe because the diagnoses are more varied, not one delivery after another. Or because the pace seems more steady and not as stressful.
I'll definitely stick with my L&D job for at least a year. It's been my dream for so long, so I should give it a chance and learn as much as I can. And my hospital likes you to work for a year or more in your position before putting in for a transfer.
But if in a year I still find myself shying away from deliveries and pining for peds, it might be time to transfer....
Has anyone else experienced some sort of delivery burnout on their first year of L&D that they recovered from either by giving it more time, or transferring somewhere else?
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