Please Help I am REALLY worried.

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

I am really worried. I start capstone March 25th in OB. I thought OB was what I really would like to do after graduation but now I am not so sure. OB is not my first choice and I have decided to go into Med-surg after graduation because I don't want to settle. I am interested in OB but like I said it is not my first choice. My first choice is NICU or Pediatrics. The reason why I am not starting in pediatrics although there are plenty of jobs available for pediatric nurses because I live in a city with a LARGE children's hospital system, is because I am commited to a particular hospital system for 2 years after graduation because of a scholarship deal. They do have a few NICU's in the hospital system but they can't take anymore new grads because they already have as many as they can handle. NICU and PEDS is my first choice. I have had the opportunity to work in both areas as a tech and done clinicals and I really LOVED it. So rather than settle, I figure I start in Med-surg which will help me get my assessment skills down pretty good and other skills like IV's and inserting urine caths. I am VERY nervous about OB because I keep hearing it is VERY litigious and that scares me to death and watching all the potential complications that can happen in OB scares me.

Now here is my deal. My capstone lasts 6 weeks there will be a few weeks where we do 3 12 hour shifts and some weeks we do 2 12 hour shifts so we end up with a total in 168 hours. The nurse manager in OB told me I can do all 6 weeks in Labor and delivery, or all 6 weeks in Mother/baby or all 6 weeks in nursery or we can mix it up. I am going to mix it up. Question is how do I get the most out of this internship like experience? Who knows by the end of the 6 weeks I could very well be deciding to go into OB afterall but for now I am leaning more toward the Med-surg side for the reasons I mentioned above.

Also like I mentioned in another thread I am scared about checking cervical dilatations, station and effacement because of my small hands. So that is another reason why I am nervous. An instructor told me having small hands may be a disadvantage for me.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I have small hands. NO disadvantage to me. It's all in technique. I have tips for you . If you want, PM me and I will do all I can to allay your fears. Do NOT WORRY! Let me know how I can help you.

[mark_LD_RN]

hands of all sizes can be a hinderence. learn to work with what you got. it's all in the technique. one of our midwives has the smallest hands with the shortest fingers i ever seen. she does fine.only occasionally does she have to ask me to check some one for here because cervix is to posterior for her to reach.good luck:)

[seanymph]

You will do fine. OB can be very scary at first, but if you follow what you learn and your instincts as you become more experienced then you will do fine. Any aspect of nursing can be litigous, it just seems we are more likely to hear about the OB ones more often. Now the Med/Surg part: I firmly believe all new grads should do at least one year of med/surg to get that all round experience under there belt. This also helps in prioritizing and time managing. It is a good idea when doing your OB to "mix it up". Good luck with what ever you do.

[L&D.RN]

If you really want NICU/Peds, why don't you do the entire internship in the nursery. There you will get experience with newborns, it just won't be the worst of the worst babies. You'll get some experience with bad babies because they will stabilize them before they ship them out. It would give you lots of hands on with the basics you would be doing even in the NICU, and I think it would look good to the NICU NM if you had done an internship in the nursery.