burnout possible during orientation?? or just overwhelmed?

[adpiRN]

I'm about 2 months into my orientation on a busy L&D floor. My first RN job. The past few weeks I find myself secretly hoping that my pt won't deliver on my shift and wishing for easy early induction patients, where all I have to do is go up on the pit and chart vitals signs and FHR and contraction patterns.

L&D has been my dream job for years and I love childbirth. But it's sort of lost its thrill already. Is that possible? It seems odd that something so amazing, that used to make me cry, now seems mundane.

Or am I just overwhelmed on orientation and looking for a break from the craziness and stress and pressure and tons of charting that comes along with deliveries?

Maybe once I'm more comfortable and confident in my skills, I can focus more on the job of helping women deliver babies, and enjoying the experience. Instead of stressing about keeping up on the charting, FHR decels, tying the OBs gown, getting my cord blood/gases, hanging the postpartum pit, worrying that she might be bleeding too much and I'll have to run and get hemabate etc.

Lately I find myself fantasizing about transferring to peds. Maybe because the diagnoses are more varied, not one delivery after another. Or because the pace seems more steady and not as stressful.

I'll definitely stick with my L&D job for at least a year. It's been my dream for so long, so I should give it a chance and learn as much as I can. And my hospital likes you to work for a year or more in your position before putting in for a transfer.

But if in a year I still find myself shying away from deliveries and pining for peds, it might be time to transfer....

Has anyone else experienced some sort of delivery burnout on their first year of L&D that they recovered from either by giving it more time, or transferring somewhere else?

[Becky8]

You are obviously conscientious and doing your best to do a good job and keep everyone safe. Anything new takes time to adjust to and feel comfortable with even if it is your dream job. Try to find ways to relax on your time off and get out of your head about the job....walk, work out, talk to friends, whatever has worked for you before. The first year is understandably a very difficult transition time so try to be easier on yourself. I would suggest giving it the full year and you might surprised how different you feel then. But don't keep it all in. If you feel safe, share it. I wish you the best and God bless.........

[Lilnurse0803, RN]

Hello abnihon,

I sent you a PM.

Thanks!

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

Hang in there..sounds like you are overwhelmed and not really "enjoying" the experience of OB.

Wait until you get "your groove."....

[L&Dnurse13]

I can relate to this. When I first started L&D (My first RN position also) I hoped for cervidil inductions or a certain groups pts. I really wanted quiet nights. I did not want deliveries at all. I have been an L&D RN now for over 3 years and go in hoping for deliveries. It does pass. It gets better everyday. As you become more confident and your skills get better then things fall into place. There is so much to learn on orientation and it goes by so fast. Very overwhelming. Once orientation is over you may still feel this way, but give yourself time. I used to dream of going to postpartum. I just wanted to get my time in L&D over and move on. Now I would not leave L&D for anything. I love my job and the labor and birth process get better. You learn what needs to be done now and what can wait a bit. Some things become automatic. Hang in there! You sound like you are just overwhelmed. It will get better. If you have any ?'s just ask.

[Barkow]

The way you're feeling is very understandable. For me, once L&D became a job, part of the magic was inherently gone. There are still some births that make me emotional, but most of the time you become so caught up in charting and tasks, especially if you have multiple patients, that you don't have time to become as emotionally invested. However, when I am with a friend in labor and don't have to function as her nurse, my attitude is completely different. Being a L&D nurse carries a lot of responsibility, and it takes time to be able to have the comfort level to do your job and become emotionally invested. It's also hard because in many cases you will see babies born into less than desirable circumstances, and you might have trouble becoming thrilled about those situations too.

I think it takes about a year to start feeling comfortable. Once you become comfortable, you may start shifting your view of births. But L&D is a lot more complex than cute babies being born healthy to loving, stable parents, and I've always had a tough time reconciling that fact.

[tewdles, RN]

You are correct in that what you are feeling is very likely related to stress from orientation. Each time we change jobs as nurses we stress ourselves. It takes on average about 6 months before we don't feel dangerous in our new positions and about a year before we experience a comfort level of practice. Please take a deep breath and give yourself and the unit some time. Odds are you will find your "groove" and turn out to be a passionate L & D nurse.

Good luck!

[CNM 26.2]

I agree that L&D orientation can be overwhelming and that may very well be what you are experiencing. L&D is a specialty and there's a lot more that goes into it than some departments. Having said that, however, be sure you are in L&D for the right reasons and be willing accept that it may not be what you fantasized about before working there. I have had a handful of nurses in my career that have oriented to L&D for all the wrong reasons, such as, they thought it woud be "easy" or they were excited to have less patients than in med/surg or post partum. I have had nurses that after their orientation will refuse to take certain types of patients because they were "bored" with them or they didn't want all the work that went along.

One comment that you made that has me a bit worried is referring to L&D as "one delivery after another" and that there are not varied diagnosis. There is never one patient that is exactly like the next, no two deliveries are the same. It worries me that you could become complacent and miss something-this is something that I have seen with a nurse that I currently work with that transfered to L&D for all the wrong reasons. She truly views all patients as the same so she often misses things that are important, or she simply does not know what to do with patients that are not standard, epidural, no decels, pushes for about 15 min, textbook deliveries.

I hope you will hang in there and find the joy in every patient. Find the joy in the deliveries find the joy in the inductions-find the joy in learning all you can about every patient and every diagnosis you come across (trust me, there are a plethora of them)....but also realize that the patient load and what L&D is all about will not change after your orientation~if you are not comfortable with that then maybe L&D is not truly your dream job.

Good luck to you!