Current Student. Questions for experienced nurses :)

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I am going to apply for the Vanderbilt Nurse Residency in Women's Health when I graduate in December. I LOVE OB and I really hope that I will get this opportunity, but its extremely competitive. I'm going to take a neonatal resuscitation class over the summer, and also maybe try to get DOMA certified, although I don't know if I'll be able to afford that! I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of other ways to get ahead in this area? I'm going to also talk to local hospitals about volunteering in the nursery, but that's a sought after position so its likely to be filled!

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

What is DOMA? The only thing I can think of is "Defense of Marriage Act" and I'm pretty sure that's not what you're talking about.

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Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

I was also wondering what DOMA is. In my opinion, certifications such as NRP or ACLS are not helpful for new grads to stand out at hiring time. It seems as if everyone gets these certifications to show that they are passionate about the specialties that require them when there are MUCH better options to show your passion and will make better use of your investment dollars. I would recommend joining AWHONN ($96 for a student membership) and getting involved with what they offer. Try to attend their annual conference (network, network, network!) and/or take their Basic Fetal Heart Monitoring course (if you're going for L&D). If you'll be going for mother/baby, lactation would be super beneficial if your budget allows. UCSD Extension offers a CLEC course online for approx. $700 that is FANTASTIC for basic lactation education.

Best of luck to you!

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I think it was supposed to be DONA which is a doula certification.

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I think it is really important to find out what the specific unit you are looking into sees as valuable. Some units love nurses who have AWHONN memberships and some couldn't care less. Some really want their nurses to be motivated to take (and pass) a certification exam once they have acquired the necessary experience. Lactation educator classes would be a bonus for all OB units, I would think, but it is very expensive. I would actually caution against getting your DONA. Doulas and RNs have VERY different scopes of practice and I could see the different responsibilities conflicting often. A fairly inexpensive thing you can do is complete the AWHONN Basic Fetal Monitoring online course if you are looking to get into L&D specifically. It is only $70.

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Thanks so much for the info! I am definately joining AWHONN and didn't know about the fetal monitoring class. I will take it for sure! I am probably not going to do the DONA thing, too much money and will take too much time away from everything else I am trying to do this summer! So currently these are my plans:

- NRP certification

- basic fetal monitoring class

- joining AWHONN

- volunteering at Vanderbilts ShadeTree Clinic, a special needs day camp, and maybe a hospital also

- a nursing mission trip to guatemala

- Sigma Theta Tau and NSNA membership

- hopefully a healthcare summer job if I can ever find one!

- maybe attend the American College of Nurse Midwifery convention to attend some of the workshops if I can afford it

I really wish I could afford that lactation course!!! I am interested in L&D but I also want to be a IBCLC.

Does that sound like enough to be competitive for the residency? Thanks for the help!

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Is there a pregnancy crisis center in your area that you could volunteer at? That might give you more applicable experiences to talk about in an interview than a special needs clinic. I was an active member in NSNA and although it was a great experience and exercise in networking, in my experience, potential jobs couldn't have cared less about that. Most didn't even know what it was.

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Yeah I know the special needs camp isn't all that relevant. But I know the lady who runs it and I had clinical there so I was going to do it just because... supposedly there is a pregnancy crisis center here but their website won't load for me! I will look around locally. Thanks!

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Any volunteering is better than none! I hope I am not coming across as discouraging. I just don't want you to waste time and money like I did on things that were useless to me in the job hunt. If someone had told me about the fetal monitoring class before I graduated and other stuff too, it might not have taken me 3.5 years to get an L&D job. I just thought of another certification opportunity that is applicable to several areas of OB nursing. Have you heard of S.T.A.B.L.E. ?

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Specializes in high risk OB.

Girl, you have an impressive resume'! Hope you get the gig! You know the AWHONN conference is in Nashville this summer! Wish I got to go. Maybe there are some volunteer opportunities for nursing students? I just looked at the itinerary and there are going to be some marvelous speakers and presentations. Is Vanderbilt going to send any of their students who are passionate about OB? Maybe you should ask;)

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I'm actually not a Vandy student! I go to a different Middle TN school. But my OB professor is taking some students and I'm thinking about going! The cost is the only issue. Everything is so expensive!!! I didn't think about asking if there was anything I could volunteer to do there, that might be interesting. Thanks!

And no, I've never heard of STABLE. I looked it up. I might try that too. Thanks so much everyone!

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