Doula

[Toothbrushx2]

Hi Nurse Friends, Are more pregnant women hiring doulas now? Are doulas very helpful? Is anyone out there a doula?

[CEG]

Hmmm yeah. I am working on my cetification through DONA. I am pretty sure you lose your certification if you are practicing outside the scope of a doula when you are working as a doula, whether you are a nurse or not.

Also, Operatio Special Delivery is a great program, I have a lot of friends who have used it. Definitely recommend it to anyone who needs it :)

[stamperRN]

A hospital dictating who a mom could hire for help- that's pretty bad. I hope the moms then choose another hospital. We do have one that requires us to sign a form saying we will only do non clinical tasks. A no brainer for me.

I totally agree, when the doula with one of my patients told me that I said, "Can they do that?" and she said yes, apparently they can.

[BabyRN2Be]

I'm a doula as well. I work birth and postpartum. I'm also trained as a certified breast feeding educator. I've enjoyed that very much because I love to teach. :)

[VeryPlainJane]

I had a Doula....I just loved her she was like the grandmotherly midwife she really helped me... Here in Kansas City there is a large Doula commuity... they charge from $0-300 ...let me tell you they are worth every penny! Since my daugther has been born my ins will pay for a doula. A Doula even helped us out when she had colic.

[ladybugsea]

I'm a nursing student, hoping to eventually go the CNM route. I'd like to get a job in L&D as soon as possible, and I know that can be tough or impossible with little/no experience. I've thought about getting doula certification, not to actually become a doula, but because I thought it could be useful as a L&D nurse. Would that look good on my resume and help me to get a job faster? The reason I'm not considering actually being a doula is that the schedule/pay reliability don't work for me right now. I have a pregnant friend that has asked me to attend her birth so I've been thinking about taking the DONA training and possibly getting certified. There is a training coming up in May, between my spring and summer semeters, so that would be a good time for me to fit it into my busy schedule! Does anyone have any comments?

[RNnL&D]

I'm a nursing student, hoping to eventually go the CNM route. I'd like to get a job in L&D as soon as possible, and I know that can be tough or impossible with little/no experience. I've thought about getting doula certification, not to actually become a doula, but because I thought it could be useful as a L&D nurse. Would that look good on my resume and help me to get a job faster? The reason I'm not considering actually being a doula is that the schedule/pay reliability don't work for me right now. I have a pregnant friend that has asked me to attend her birth so I've been thinking about taking the DONA training and possibly getting certified. There is a training coming up in May, between my spring and summer semeters, so that would be a good time for me to fit it into my busy schedule! Does anyone have any comments?

I became a doula while a nursing student. I don't know if it helped me get a job in L&D but it was definitely beneficial, both for exposure to L&D and for experience as labor support.

[ljds]

I don't know if the certification without actually working as a doula would help you find a job or not; I would tend to think not. However, in order to be certified, you have to attend a certain number of births and childbirth classes; so maybe it would be helpful.

One way to get around the scheduling is to form a doula cooperative; you could go in with a couple other doulas, and take clients as a group. You decide what sort of call your schedule allows you to take, and you base your pay on the percentage of time you took call.

In our area, doulas are popular at all sorts of births--home, birth center, and hospital. I think in general the staff receives them well--it means less work for them in many cases. In my personal experience, the "professional" doulas, the ones who do this for a living, are very helpful and rarely overstep their boundaries. The ones who are relatives and friends, and don't do it on a regular basis are the ones who sometimes aren't as concerned with forging a good working relationship with the facilities and overstep their doula-boundaries (in part because they sometimes have no idea what those boundaries are).

Go onto dona's website and see what the recommended reading lists are; then start checking those books out of the library. If you feel like certification is something that will help you, you will have already read the books and will be prepared for the classes. If you decide against it, you will still have the knowledge from your readings to draw upon when you get a job. Just being familiar with the books and their subjects may help you in the interview process.