any advice?

HazeK · Jul 7, 2001

agree with kday...try postpartum or nursery or mother/baby first...

then, look around for hospitals with training classes or 'internships'!

At my hospital, we run two to three 12 week internships each year to train L&D nurses!

redhedgoddess · Jul 9, 2001

I work in a fairly small hospital in a fairly rural area. We have about 125 beds total, 13 LDRP beds. I got my foot in the door by floating to OB and doing mother/baby. Since mother/baby would often leave me with time on my hands, I would help out the labor nurses with admission hxs, IV starts, etc. and would observe every birth I could get into. Then I started assisting the baby nurse with receiving, giving the newborn meds... when a position opened up, I applied and got it. They got a nurse who already felt comfortable with mother/baby and was ready to jump into L&D, I got a head start on knowing my coworkers.

I don't know what sorts of opportunities your particular working situation offers you, but if the straight ahead approach won't work... take some back roads to get where you want to be!

jhpearce78 · Jul 10, 2001

Well I am like you babynurse7, I have been a nurse for 2 years and went to school to do OB/GYN nursing only to find out that it's NOT that easy to get a job in that field! I have been working as a geriatric's nurse since nursing school and got tired of that so I started looking for a change. I got 2 interviews on my own with OB/GYN physicians and they both said, "Well we were looking for someone with more experience". Finally I talked to my family physcian and she told me to go register with our county's medical society. They have a job placement program for nurses. I had an interview yesterday with an OB/GYN office through the med. society and I got the job!!!! The best part is that the other nurse I'll be working with did L&D for 16 years so I am hoping she can teach me a LOT!!! Look in the phone book, in the white pages and look for your county's medical society. I am not sure if everyone has one, but its worth the try! Good luck!

jopadeevra · Aug 2, 2001

Originally posted by babynurse7
I have been reading these posts for awhile and enjoy them very much. My problem is this--I have been a nurse for over three years now and am currently working in heme/onc. I like it but my true passion is to be an OB nurse. I have been trying this whole time to get into an OB unit with no success. Any suggestions? I just interviewed with a nurse manager and didn't get offered the job and I am so bummed! I belong to AWHONN and did independent studies while I was in school in the area of OB. Is there anything else I should be doing? I so want to work in this area and am getting really frustrated!! ANY advice anyone can give me would be appreciated--Thanks....

HI! I am not a nurse yet (or even in school), but I too really want to work in L&D some day, in fact that is the reason I want to be a nurse. I also live in MN and it scares me that it can be so difficult to get into L&D. I read the employment opps. from several of the local hospitals and all the descriptions want L&D experience. I would really like to talk to you more about your experiences, feel free to e-mail me if you want. I wish you luck in finding the right position.