Doula Training

SurroDoula · Dec 7, 2010

I've been a doula since 2003. After taking the training, I would try asking other doulas in the area if you could work as their backup when you are out of school or on your off days. Also you could check out organizations that have volunteer doula groups. We have one here for pregnant teens; for this group there are always two doulas assigned to the teen mom, to make sure that at least one can make it.

I have gone to a couple of births while in school, but you're right, it is hard. With good support though, it can be done. I just had to make sure there was always someone else who could cover for me in the event of an exam, and only took one client per semester.

tablefor9, RN · Dec 7, 2010

You could also check with local HB midwives to see if they're open to the same kind of arrangement. Just make sure you arrange a good backup system for clients laboring when you are unavailable.

You might also consider doing some lactation/peer counseling things or childbirth ed certifications. There's $$ involved, mainly leaving your pocket, for these certs, but L&D is competitive in most places, and this may give you an edge. It will certainly contribute positively to your comfort level going into a liability riddled specialty with minimal real world experience.

HTH

heatheryk · Dec 7, 2010

I've been a doula since 2001. I did DONAs training but never recieved their certification. I don't think that the certification is worth the money personally. I did a few birth during the first year of nursing school. It was really hard. I made it to every birth but it was stressful. I'm not sure that a nurse manager would find a doula certification as a real plus. Some hospitals are very pro doula and others have very bad things to say about doulas. I would find out the philosophy of your local hospitals. So, as a marketablility issue, I think that a breast feeding certification might be better. Long term, any doula skill that you have will be very useful to you to you.

mentalhealthRN · Dec 7, 2010

I mean no offense to anyone who is a doula but I do have to report that I worked for a short time in L&D right out of nursing school (first job) and though the hospital had a large Midwife practice there on the unit--over all the attitude of all of the staff (docs, midwives and nurses) was that the Doulas were nurse wanna be's, got in the way and were mostly a pain to deal with.

My personal experience with them was that--hey if the mom has a not so supportive partner and the doula can take the place of that person and be supportive emotionally and be there to do things like hold a leg, help keep the mom focused and calm--especially when staff is not in the room--GREAT!! AWESOME!! However the individuals that I delt with....well lets just day I could see why the staff felt the way that they did. I had one I can remember that drove me nuts and made my job difficult. The mom would ask me questions about meds that I needed to give or that she wanted to know about and before I could answer her questions the Doula would bud in and answer her questions. Ummmm.......she was not a nurse and this I found really inappropriate. That was not her role--and to boot she had no idea what she was talking about. I would explain to the mom what I was doing and why as I would do things--as I feel that is my job to make sure the patient isn't in the dark and knows what is happening to them, and give them the chance to ask questions. The doula kept challenging what and why I was doing everything. I finally went to discuss the situation with the doc to see how she felt about the situation and the doc told me that she had found the same thing and asked me to pull out the doula and talk with her together. The doc told the doula that she was welcome to be there for support but that she needed to allow the staff to do their jobs and reminded her that she is not a nurse and needs to allow the nurses to provide the nursing care.

So I think you should forgo the whole doula thing personally and just try to get into L&D and get your experience and then go onto the midwife thing. While in nursing school too you could try to get a position in that department as a tech. We had great techs that assisted with a lot and got to see a lot--and a huge foot in the door---you learn A LOT.

CNM2B201? · Dec 7, 2010

Thanks for the responses everyone!!!!

I have found 2 hospitals that offer student nurse positions and one that offers an OB tech position part time. I think either of these would be a good foot in the door. Im also going to call some of my local hospitals to see if there is anyway I could work as a student nurse or tech on an OB floor even if they dont have postings for it.

I just thought the doula cert would be good to have if I went for my CNM.

I like the idea of the Child Birth educator and/or Lactation Consultant..those might be better to have than the doula cert since I know that most of the hospitals use their LD nurses to teach those classes to parents.

Are there any other certs I can get before or during nursing school that would help me get into LD?

mentalhealthRN · Dec 7, 2010

I had to take a course to get certification in both fetal monitoring and in neonatal recesutation as well as EKG monitoring (for PACU after c-sections) but I think you probably might need to wait till you start working in L&D for those. I doubt you could take those now.

anurseatlast · Dec 8, 2010

Becoming a lactation consultant is very time-consuming. You have to have many hours of hands-on experience before you can eve3n register to take the certification exam. Being a lactation consultant woud be a plus but it might be more realistic to become a breastfeeding educator unless you are willing to spend a lot of time to get certified as a lactation consultant.

mother_baby_RN · Dec 8, 2010

I'm a current nursing student (Accelerated BSN) pursuing my DONA certification and am hoping to go into L&D after I finish my program next summer. I specifically chose my ABSN program because they have a Birth Companions Program that gives you amazing experience providing doula services for free to women in the community. It is a bit challenging balancing it with school, as it is impossible to predict when babies are going to come and how long labor is going to take. We have a great team of students and can help each other out to jump in when we can't get to a client birth right away.

Getting certification through DONA goes a bit above and beyond the scope of the student course my school offers (lots of independent study time, reading), but it's doable. Like you, I hope it will help make me more marketable and it's great to have time working in that environment. You learn so much and it's such a

What area are you in that the hospitals are hiring new L&D nurses??? :) Do you know where you're going to school yet?

Feel free to send me a private message if you want more information.

Cheers,

Jill

CNM2B201? · Dec 8, 2010

I'm a current nursing student (Accelerated BSN) pursuing my DONA certification and am hoping to go into L&D after I finish my program next summer. I specifically chose my ABSN program because they have a Birth Companions Program that gives you amazing experience providing doula services for free to women in the community. It is a bit challenging balancing it with school, as it is impossible to predict when babies are going to come and how long labor is going to take. We have a great team of students and can help each other out to jump in when we can't get to a client birth right away.
Getting certification through DONA goes a bit above and beyond the scope of the student course my school offers (lots of independent study time, reading), but it's doable. Like you, I hope it will help make me more marketable and it's great to have time working in that environment. You learn so much and it's such a
What area are you in that the hospitals are hiring new L&D nurses??? :) Do you know where you're going to school yet?
Feel free to send me a private message if you want more information.
Cheers,
Jill

Your school sounds really great!! I've looked into DONA certification and it requires a lot!!

Im close to the Kansas City area, and I've found a few openings that list no experience required in LD..some require that you have BLS and NRP to apply though and others just state minimum experience:none..except a current RN license and a graduate of an accredited school of professional nursing. I've also found a few openings in mother/baby that state they are looking for a graduate nurse.

I've found a few OB tech openings that I would like to apply for to get experience.

Im pretty sure Im going to an ADN program next fall. I looked at a BSN program but they get over 500 applicants a year and it was 80 miles from my home..relocating isnt an option at the moment. So my plan is to get my RN and then RN-BSN bridge online *takes 1yr*

klone, MSN, RN · Dec 8, 2010

Contrary to what a previous poster wrote, not all hospitals and care providers are disdainful of doulas. Where I work, we see doulas regularly, and with a few exceptions, are looked upon as a fabulous addition to the birthing team.

When you have two active laboring patients who both want to labor without an epidural or pain meds, having a doula there is a godsend.