Did I do the right thing??

[AlmostThere:)]

I will be graduating in December. I interviewed for 2 positions-OB and med/surg. When I was offered both positions I choose OB (I think that its my calling ). Will I be okay in the OB field if the only med surg experience I have is from my school clinicals?

[studentnurserachel]

I have said it before in different posts, I think that getting a year or two of med-surg/ICU/or ED experience first is beneficial, however since you have already accepted the OB position, you can maximize your contribution to the unit and assimilate faster if you do your homework outside of just your time on the unit. Spend time reading up on things that you see during your orientation, ask questions EVERY TIME you don't understand something, try to maximize your experience. Hopefully the unit you go to has a solid new-grad training program and good preceptors. Our May new grads are just coming off orientation right now and some of them are doing better than others and to me, the ones who asked the most questions and didn't just do something because they were told to are the ones who are handling the transition okay, a couple have that "deer in the headlights" look when they get their assignment following report. I will say that having prior experience doesn't necessarily mean that someone is going to do well in OB. We have a nurse who has 10+ years of med/surg, home-health, LTC, etc. experience under her belt and more recently, spent 6+ months on postpartum where she does reasonably well, she has been orienting for 16 weeks already and I precepted her the other day and was astonished at how little she knows and how incapable she is of handling even 1 laboring patient, let alone 2. If OB is your "thing" then you hopefully will find that you have a knack for it and once you get past the growing pains of being a new grad, you will do great.

[AlmostThere:)]

Do have an recommendations about how to "read up". I really want to be successful at this and anything will help!!! Do have any suggestions about magazines or books??

[magz53]

I too have to chime in and say that IMHO med-surg experience is helpful before jumping into any specialty. However, we all know that it will be argued for all time and some will do well coming directily into OB. When you encounter a situation for the first time as a newbie, go home and read. Be it PIH, gestational diabetes, hydronephrosis or any one of the myriad of problems, it will sink in more if you can relate it to an actual patient you have just taken care of. I can't imagine being a new nurse and encountering postpartum hemorrhage, cord prolapse, uterine inversion etc. which are all life-threatening events.

[Montessori Mommy]

I went right into labor & delivery from nursing school in June of this year, and I'm so glad I did. OB, peds or NICU were the only areas I could ever work. Although I did very well in school - classroom and clinical - I never liked med-surg at all. OB is my passion!!

The best part of L & D to me is that I usually have one laboring patient to care for. (Maybe two if I have a sleeping Cervidil induction and a rule-out labor.) It's possible to really establish a wonderful rapport with the patient, and provide the very best care. When we had six patients in clinical the last semester of nursing school, I felt as though I was just waiting for a crisis while running between patients. One on one care feel more like nursing to me.

Best of luck to you! Follow your heart & you'll never regret it!