CNA, LPN, and RN jobs in L&D

Iwannabeababynurse · Jul 31, 2007

yeah i would like to know that myself about that. where i'm going to school at they have made some changes. at first you if you wanted to become a rn you had to go thru the lpn program first and become a lpn before you could become an rn. now you have to take the cna class program and pass it before you can go into the lpn program.

KellNY, RN · Jul 31, 2007

CNAs in hospitals are usually paid significantly LESS than at a nursing home. I know here they make about $12/hr with years of experience. In LTC they start at $12, and with experience you can make $15+.

CNAs are not really employed for Pt care in L&D in most hospitals--they're usually assigned to stocking, stripping beds, setting up the beds, assembling birth tables, etc. Most Pt contact they really have is transporting the Pt to Post Partum or Antepartum. Very rarely is a CNA in L&D present for a delivery or making any direct contact with a newborn, so if this is your goal/dream, then most likely you're going to be very disappointed.

The reasoning for this is that it's usually such a high acuity and low RN/Pt ratio that the RN does the BPs, FS, etc.

LPNs don't have any jobs in many L&Ds. An RN's job, please view the stickies at the top of the page-they're so varied (basics=fetal monitoring, assist with delivery, triage/assessment, in some places cervical exams, scrub or circulate in OR for csection/termination/repair, close Pt monitoring-for pain, bleeding, BPs, fever, reaction to meds, etc)

amanda1229 · Jul 31, 2007

CNAs in hospitals are usually paid significantly LESS than at a nursing home. I know here they make about $12/hr with years of experience. In LTC they start at $12, and with experience you can make $15+.
CNAs are not really employed for Pt care in L&D in most hospitals--they're usually assigned to stocking, stripping beds, setting up the beds, assembling birth tables, etc. Most Pt contact they really have is transporting the Pt to Post Partum or Antepartum. Very rarely is a CNA in L&D present for a delivery or making any direct contact with a newborn, so if this is your goal/dream, then most likely you're going to be very disappointed.
The reasoning for this is that it's usually such a high acuity and low RN/Pt ratio that the RN does the BPs, FS, etc.
LPNs don't have any jobs in many L&Ds. An RN's job, please view the stickies at the top of the page-they're so varied (basics=fetal monitoring, assist with delivery, triage/assessment, in some places cervical exams, scrub or circulate in OR for csection/termination/repair, close Pt monitoring-for pain, bleeding, BPs, fever, reaction to meds, etc)

Thanks for the info.

Well, I expected the job to be less patient oriented (like you said, bedmaking, prepping tables, etc.) in L&D, but I'm not dreaming of a CNA job in the department -- I'm just focusing on building a reputation and history in the department so I can hopefully be an RN there one day. What I hear around here and everywhere else is that it's a hard department to break into as a grad, I thought if I had my sort of "foot in the door" early on, it would make things easier.

Also, hospital pay doesn't worry me as long as it's not less than what I'm making now -- and I've been at my one and only CNA job for only two months, experience really isn't an issue. And I don't get paid $12/hr. there either. So maybe our area is different, considering I've heard about our major hospital paying more than LTC facilities.

Again, thanks for the info, and I hope some others will have more input. :)

Skyetropics · Jul 31, 2007

I just wanted to add this - CNA's in my area get paid significantly more to work at a hospital than a nursing home or AL, but that is because they have to complete PCT training as well. I have not heard of many CNA/PCT's in L&D anywhere