Anyone working mother baby in a critical access hospital?

[Postpartum RN]

I am thinking of applying to mother baby positions in several critical access hospitals near me. I have not had any luck getting any interviews for mother/baby units yet, so was thinking to apply at some CAH.

I am wondering though if you can tell me how it is working there? Do you do both l&d and mother baby? Do they require you to float to other floors such as medsurg when you have low census? Do you have enough support in emergencies? These are some of my worries. Any info would be very helpful!

I've been nursing for 6 years, and past 6 months on a busy med surg tele unit just fyi. Thanks!

[bagladyrn, RN]

I've worked in quite a few critical access hospitals as a traveler. Generally in these facilities you do all areas of OB: L&D, PP,nursery,occasionally antepartum or gyn. Some hospitals do require you to work in other areas when there are no OB patients, usually as an extra since you may need to leave at any time if a labor patient comes in.

As for staffing, I've worked with as many as 2 other nurses and as few as myself and a cna. I do find that help is usually available when needed, either from other depts or even coworkers coming in from home when called. After all, next time it may be them in need.

It is different than working in a larger facility since you do need to do more yourself when other depts (rt,lab,etc.)are not always in house.

[Postpartum RN]

Thank you for your info bag lady. So if needed you do your own RT treatments and blood draws?

[klone, MSN, RN]

What is a "critical access" hospital? Is that like a rural hospital?

[Trixie13, BSN, RN]

A critical access hospital is a rural hospital with 25 acute beds or less and other limitations. It makes sense for many because it affects Medicare reimbursement; my hospital was losing money due to a low number of privately insured patients and high volume of Medicare. Here is a link:

What are critical access hospitals (CAH)?

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

There are several critical access hospitals where I live. With only 25 total beds, none of them have OB "units".

The beds are mostly geriatric patients with chronic illnesses. Factor in skilled beds and they're basically acute care NHs.

I've never heard of CC hospitals that have OB rooms. I've learned another new thing today.

[Postpartum RN]

Yep several I've looked at in my area have birthing centers and have current positions posted, granted the birthing units are very small

[bagladyrn, RN]

You do your own lab draws and whatever emergency resp and other procedures are necessary until the on call rt arrives. They are generally very prompt and you do get a feel for when you need to call on call early in anticipation of problems

[LV3677]

I worked in a critical access OB unit as a CNA. Generally the RN's do L&D and postpartum. We had about 30 births a month, usually 3 nurses per shift, one CNA per shift. There was quite a bit of low censusing there- I could count on getting put on call once every pay period.

OB nurses were floated as needed to the medical unit, generally given the most stable patients- no contact precautions patients just in case they had to go back down to the OB unit.

As far as support, eh... depends on your coworkers and their skill level. At the CAH I worked at, the hospital would pull together well when one unit was having an emergency. The house sup was the go to, a typically an experienced ICU nurse who would jump in and help out, especially with major traumas, codes, or emergency transports. Our hospital had an RT on staff 24/7 and laboratory services, but in some hospitals you might have to do those things yourself.