Can LPN's work in Labor & Delivery Or in the Nursery?

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

yeah, im a going to school to be an lpn and hopefully after i will transfer to the rn program but meanwhile after i graduate as an lpn i would like to have a part tim job while going to school. and i want to work in labor & delivery/ and or nursery? is that possible?

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yeah, im a going to school to be an lpn and hopefully after i will transfer to the rn program but meanwhile after i graduate as an lpn i would like to have a part tim job while going to school. and i want to work in labor & delivery/ and or nursery? is that possible?

i was told that lvn/lpns can work in post-partum but i m not sure about the nursery. i hope that helps a little, if you could when you find out about if lvn/pns can work in the nursery, could you let me know? thanks i really appreciate it. good luck in nursing school!!!

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Specializes in L/D, and now Occupational Health.

In the past 10+ years I have worked in 2 hospitals within the same company, sister hospitals if you will. At one LPNs could be in L/D, but they could not take care of any laboring patients. This left them to mostly assist in the OR for C/S, fill in as unit sec., and care for any patients that were not in labor or need IV push meds. At the other hospital, I am not sure about L/D, I know we did not have any on the unit. There were LPNs on Mother Baby for sure, and I think even in the Normal newborn nursery, but I am sure everywhere is different. You'll just have to check around in your area.

Good Luck to you !!!

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Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho, L & D (yea BABY!).

At my hospital, we hire LPNs as scrub techs in L&D. They are trained to scrub in on procedures and C sections. They also attend the lady partsl deliveries as the "writer", and have specific duties related to that..setting up delivery tables etc. They also restock rooms, clean the equipment, do the ordering, put pt's on the monitor, obtain vs. In a pinch, they can do a recovery on a lady partsl delivery. They are all trained in neonatal resuscitation. They can float out to post partum or nursery and take an assignment. We have in the past had a few techs that were not LPNs, but our NM has said in the future she will only hire LPNs as techs. We have an LPN who has worked here since the hospital doors opened in the 1960's and she is fabulous and can run circles around most of the RNs in the unit!!!! Back in her day, an LPN could do anything and everything related to patient care, so she really knows her stuff and has seen and done it ALL. She is one of the most respected employees in the hospital and still going strong, in her 70's!! We love her to pieces.

Good luck to you! Definitely finish up your schooling to get your RN. In the meantime, call around and ask to see what it's like in your area. You may wait quite sometime for an opening, as L&D is pretty tough to get into sometimes, cuz ppl don't leave until they die or retire. I waited 13 years for my dream job in L&D. When it came, it practically fell into my lap, but it took a long long time for me to get here. Be patient, but be persistent.

One thing I can't stress enough tho, once you get your RN, you really will need to get some Med-Surg experience under your belt, even if you do luck out and work as an LPN in the area in the meantime. We just had an RN drop out of her orientation b/c she needed more experience. She has been out of school about a year and half, however her first job as an RN was on a sub acute rehab unit. The poor girl fell apart about 8 weeks into her orientation and I felt so bad for her. I think the thing that most nurses don't realize is that L&D is a whole new ballgame. Even as a nurse with 13 years of solid experience in many different areas, my head was swimming with all I had to learn when I first started. Based on my own experiences I feel very strongly that any nurse who wants to work in L&D should have some very solid Med surg experience first. The reason being that Med surg gives you the time management, organization and critical thinking skills that are necessary to survive in L&D. I know there are some nurses out there who will disagree and I do work with some RNs who have always worked L&D and they do fine, but that is the exception rather than the rule, and when they started 20-30 years ago, things were a lot different then they are now. Another reason: sometime in the future, you may find yourself in a position where you don't have an L&d position. Without any other experience, your options can be pretty limited. This just happened to our former asst NM. Her position was "eliminated". She had never worked anything other than L&D. She definitely felt like her options were pretty limited and definitely regretted not having gained other experiences.

Just my opinion. Hope this helps you! Good luck!

Erin

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Some hospitals hire LPN's in the nursery, but not labor and delivery. Post-partum does hire them, also.

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Specializes in Mother-Baby, Rehab, Hospice, Memory Care.

If you do get a rare LPN job in L&D, I can almost guarantee you that you will not be working as a "L&D Nurse". You can assist in laboring, admits, recovery, sometimes function as a scrub for c-sections. Most hospitals don't have well baby nurseries, only NICU or special care, where you must be an RN. I am an LPN in mother-baby, this is the only place in my hospital's childbirth center where LPN's work. However even jobs in postpartum are sometimes rare and hard to get as an LPN. I worked a year in a nursing home before I landed my dream job.

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At my hospital, we hire LPNs as scrub techs in L&D. They are trained to scrub in on procedures and C sections. They also attend the lady partsl deliveries as the "writer", and have specific duties related to that..setting up delivery tables etc. They also restock rooms, clean the equipment, do the ordering, put pt's on the monitor, obtain vs. In a pinch, they can do a recovery on a lady partsl delivery. They are all trained in neonatal resuscitation. They can float out to post partum or nursery and take an assignment. We have in the past had a few techs that were not LPNs, but our NM has said in the future she will only hire LPNs as techs. We have an LPN who has worked here since the hospital doors opened in the 1960's and she is fabulous and can run circles around most of the RNs in the unit!!!! Back in her day, an LPN could do anything and everything related to patient care, so she really knows her stuff and has seen and done it ALL. She is one of the most respected employees in the hospital and still going strong, in her 70's!! We love her to pieces.

Good luck to you! Definitely finish up your schooling to get your RN. In the meantime, call around and ask to see what it's like in your area. You may wait quite sometime for an opening, as L&D is pretty tough to get into sometimes, cuz ppl don't leave until they die or retire. I waited 13 years for my dream job in L&D. When it came, it practically fell into my lap, but it took a long long time for me to get here. Be patient, but be persistent.

One thing I can't stress enough tho, once you get your RN, you really will need to get some Med-Surg experience under your belt, even if you do luck out and work as an LPN in the area in the meantime. We just had an RN drop out of her orientation b/c she needed more experience. She has been out of school about a year and half, however her first job as an RN was on a sub acute rehab unit. The poor girl fell apart about 8 weeks into her orientation and I felt so bad for her. I think the thing that most nurses don't realize is that L&D is a whole new ballgame. Even as a nurse with 13 years of solid experience in many different areas, my head was swimming with all I had to learn when I first started. Based on my own experiences I feel very strongly that any nurse who wants to work in L&D should have some very solid Med surg experience first. The reason being that Med surg gives you the time management, organization and critical thinking skills that are necessary to survive in L&D. I know there are some nurses out there who will disagree and I do work with some RNs who have always worked L&D and they do fine, but that is the exception rather than the rule, and when they started 20-30 years ago, things were a lot different then they are now. Another reason: sometime in the future, you may find yourself in a position where you don't have an L&d position. Without any other experience, your options can be pretty limited. This just happened to our former asst NM. Her position was "eliminated". She had never worked anything other than L&D. She definitely felt like her options were pretty limited and definitely regretted not having gained other experiences.

Just my opinion. Hope this helps you! Good luck!

Erin

Thanks for the advice, I realize that I am not the person who made this orignal thread but your advice is great and I will defintely use it. My dream job is to work L&D but I will make sure to get experience in other areas and I will defintely go back to school to become an RN!!!

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Where I work only RNs in L&D and the Nursery. Is the nursury part of your clinicals like it is in RN programs? I think it's because they want only RNs to do the baby's initial and ongoing assessments.

But yes in post-partum.

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absolutely we started a new program for our LPN's about 3 years ago, and it is wonderful. they do not take a laboring patient, but are kind of a stat nurse, where they do and go where we need them. They finish up recoveries, they help turn the patient, they put in orders, and put charts together, they scrub for lady partsl deliveries, and after they have learned to do all that and feel comfortable, we orient them to scrubbing in the OR for c-sections. they have been a life saver at our hospital.

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I worked in a small hospital and I did work in L&D. I assisted in deliveries, even C-sections, I administered the meds to the newborns and was the nursery nurse.

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Where I work we do have LVN's in the Mother Baby, and we had an LVN who was a Scrub Tech....but she has since moved over to Mother Baby...One of the LVN's who works in the Mother Baby side I have to say is the most experienced and knowledgeable person on both sides....She knows her stuff and I would consider herself a pro....Unfortunately since LVN's are fading away in the hospitals so is her job description.

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Specializes in LDRP.
yeah, im a going to school to be an lpn and hopefully after i will transfer to the rn program but meanwhile after i graduate as an lpn i would like to have a part tim job while going to school. and i want to work in labor & delivery/ and or nursery? is that possible?

in our hopsital we have lpn's in the newborn nursery only (none in l&d or postpartum). i am in a big county hospital. go for your rn next and get into l&d! ;)

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