Can you work in L&D as an LPN?

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I am wondering if you can work in Labor and Delivery as an LPN?? WHen I finish school I will be an LPN and would like to work in labor and delivery but don't know if you can or if you have to be an RN. Can anybody answer my question??

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

My hospital's L/D does not hire LPNs anymore. We have one that does mother/baby but she was grandfathered in, as we no longer use LPNs anywhere on the floor.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

LPNs on my unit currently can only do PP assessments on moms and these must be supervised and co-signed by an RN. They cannot do anything in L/D nor do they assess newborns. And the LPNs we see on our unit are floats from other places, none are actually staff members of our unit.

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Specializes in Mother-Baby, Rehab, Hospice, Memory Care.
Thank you all very very much for answering my question...I live around Tacoma, Washington and I'm not sure if they use LPN's in L&D, I would have to check around when I finish school....thanks again!!

I just moved from the Seattle/Bellevue area and I can tell you that LPNs are not typically hired to work in L&D. If you do find an LPN in L&D he/she will not be a primary nurse due to the limitations of the LPN scope of practice here. I have personally worked for 2 hospitals in that area. At one, I worked in the LDRP childbirth center and cared for postpartum couplets, put pts on the fetal monitors, assisted RN with "catching babies" at a lady partsl birth, and scrubbed for c-sections. At the second hospital I worked only in the mother-baby unit, we had no LPNs in L&D. Hospital LPN jobs in OB are few and hard to come by and many hospitals don't hire LPNs at all any more. If you are set on L&D go for your RN. However, you might be able to find a job in a OB/GYN office to get your foot in the door.

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Specializes in OB, NICU, Nursing Education (academic).

The hospital here does not hire LPN's for L&D. A couple of years ago, they also reassigned (to postpartum) the ones that were there.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

It depends on the hospital. One hospital around here does not even hire LPN/LVN at all, while other has then in all departments; well they did have one over the summer in OB but she got her RN and switched to OR, now there is no LPN/LVN in OB in any of the three hospitals here. From what I hear, when they are hired in OB they are only allowed to do postpartum

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Specializes in correctional, med/surg, postpartum, L&D,.

When I was an LPN, I worked in L&D. We had an LDRP, so my job was to catch babies (we all were NRP certified) and mostly do Post Partum duties. Since I've gotten my RN, the dept. split into just labor and delivery and mom/babe services. I chose to work mom/babe.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

hi! at the hospital i work at we do hire LPN's here in L&D. but they are not used as labor nurses they only recover moms after delivery

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I live in Western WA State too, and no OB unit (inpatient hospital) I know of in this area hires new LPNs into labor and delivery. There may be one or two who may use them in Postpartum/mother-baby but I am unaware of any of who they are. I am talking about hospitals in the South Sound (Tacoma area and Olympia). I would work toward my RN if I wanted a job as an inpatient OB nurse. If you want to work in dr. office, you have a decent shot!

Good luck.

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