Ob/gyn office setting duties

Specialties Ob/Gyn

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Hi everyone! I have been trying to read up on duties of a on ob/gyn nurse, as I will be starting a new job soon. I worked on a GYN surgical floor for a couple of years after graduating nursing school, but I know the office is totally different. Do you guys have any suggestions of what I should "refresh" on (in office procedures, guidelines on Pap smears, anything would be helpful!)

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

They changed pap screening guidelines a few years ago - you should familiarize yourself with the new guidelines. I would also become familiar with all the different forms of birth control - pills, patches, rings, LARCs, emergency contraceptives, etc.

What I do:

I see my own OB patients - I do the very first visit (get history, order labs, order any meds they need, order formal dating U/S if necessary, listen to FHTs if the person is >10 weeks)

I see my own patients for pregnancy testing/confirmation of pregnancy, birth control consults and continuation, uncomplicated Gyn UTIs

I also handle all the labs for the clinic - for abnormals, I run it by the midwife for f/u or if an Rx is necessary (but I almost always know what they need, so I generally just say "Hey, this person has a UTI, I'm going to call down a scrip for Macrobid, okay?"

I do a lot of care coordination, especially for OB patients. Social work, diabetic teaching, mental health.

I check the phone triage line several times a day and contact those patients back. Usually it's someone needing an Rx refill or lab results.

I schedule a lot of patients to come back in for chlamydia or gonorrhea treatment.

The providers have MAs that work with them, so I don't really do anything with providers - they do their thing and I do mine.

The exception to that is if a provider needs me to give a Rhogam or Rocephin injection - the MAs cannot do those, so I do it.

I hook up patients on the fetal monitor if the provider asks me to, for an NST.

I also do a lot of administrative/clinical managery type stuff that I won't bore you with because that will not pertain to you.

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This information is so helpful!! I appreciate you taking the time to reply! I assume I will be trained on the NST...? I can remember too much about this from nursing school.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I don't have to interpret the NST (although I could, after 6 years working in L&D). I just set it up and let the provider know when I turned it on (a reactive NST requires a minimum of 20 minutes, so they usually go into the room when the 20 minutes is up).

Good luck to you! Feel free to post any questions that come up in the course of your job. :)

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Specializes in kids.
They changed pap screening guidelines a few years ago - you should familiarize yourself with the new guidelines. I would also become familiar with all the different forms of birth control - pills, patches, rings, LARCs, emergency contraceptives, etc.

What I do:

I see my own OB patients - I do the very first visit (get history, order labs, order any meds they need, order formal dating U/S if necessary, listen to FHTs if the person is >10 weeks)

I see my own patients for pregnancy testing/confirmation of pregnancy, birth control consults and continuation, uncomplicated Gyn UTIs

I also handle all the labs for the clinic - for abnormals, I run it by the midwife for f/u or if an Rx is necessary (but I almost always know what they need, so I generally just say "Hey, this person has a UTI, I'm going to call down a scrip for Macrobid, okay?"

I do a lot of care coordination, especially for OB patients. Social work, diabetic teaching, mental health.

I check the phone triage line several times a day and contact those patients back. Usually it's someone needing an Rx refill or lab results.

I schedule a lot of patients to come back in for chlamydia or gonorrhea treatment.

The providers have MAs that work with them, so I don't really do anything with providers - they do their thing and I do mine.

The exception to that is if a provider needs me to give a Rhogam or Rocephin injection - the MAs cannot do those, so I do it.

I hook up patients on the fetal monitor if the provider asks me to, for an NST.

I also do a lot of administrative/clinical managery type stuff that I won't bore you with because that will not pertain to you.

So, in essence, you are diagnosing and prescribing? Scope of practice issues????

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
So, in essence, you are diagnosing and prescribing? Scope of practice issues????

No, I review labs, and then I run the abnormals by the provider, tell them my findings and what I recommend, and they either agree with me, or they give me an order for something else.

What about that reads diagnosing and prescribing? Besides, our facility has standing orders and protocols for such things as simple UTIs.

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