Get CCRN with l&d experience?

OCNRN63, RN · Oct 4, 2011

I think some of the critical care folks may have egos which are LGA!!! Funny, but the indignation is a bit over the top. Sheesh it was just a question. Probably just a mistake. Could be, oh no, a stupid manager. BTW, some L&D patients are ill, do have co-morbidities, even have invasive monitoring. We do more than scream push and change peri-pads ya know. If you ever need one of us, a good L&D is priceless and literally can be a liversaver! Sorry, I guess I was a little insulted that the critical care folks thought so little of us OB nurses. I cetainly respect your knowledge and skills and would expect no less than the same from you in recognizing my own expertise. (Yes know this took the thread from Maine to Key West!)

Take all the pregnant patients. They scare me half to death. I don't think I could do OB under any circumstances. I get nervous when co-workers are pregnant and running around at 8-9 mos. doing pt. care. No contractions around me, please.

chare · Oct 5, 2011

actually, you probably could sit for the ccrn examination using l & d experience only. the initial eligibility requirements located on the aacn certification corporation web site do not identify a need for "critical care" experience; the requirement actually states:

practice as an rn or aprn is required for 1,750 hours in direct bedside care of acutely and/or critically ill patients during the previous 2 years, with 875 of those hours accrued in the most recent year preceding application. eligible hours are those spent caring for the patient population (adult, pediatric or neonatal) of the exam for which you are applying.

many of you are misreading this that the intent is that these hours must be in a critical care unit, however this is not the case.

many years ago, the aacn opted to eliminate the requirement that these hours be worked in an intensive care unit noting that many higher acuity patients were being care for on the medical surgical floors that just a few years earlier had been cared for in the intensive care unit. at the same time the aacn also eliminated any mandatory skills requirement.

having said this, i would also add that unless one worked in a very progressive l & d setting, passing would likely be a difficult task as although the aacn eliminated the requirement that the practice hours be accumulated in the critical care unit, they still require the applicant to be familiar with all of the critical care content. both the ccrn test plan and a listing of ccrn testable nursing actions can be found in the certification exam handbook.

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2011

I think some of the critical care folks may have egos which are LGA!!! Funny, but the indignation is a bit over the top. Sheesh it was just a question. Probably just a mistake. Could be, oh no, a stupid manager. BTW, some L&D patients are ill, do have co-morbidities, even have invasive monitoring. We do more than scream push and change peri-pads ya know. If you ever need one of us, a good L&D is priceless and literally can be a liversaver! Sorry, I guess I was a little insulted that the critical care folks thought so little of us OB nurses. I cetainly respect your knowledge and skills and would expect no less than the same from you in recognizing my own expertise. (Yes know this took the thread from Maine to Key West!)

I don't think anyone is implying L&D nurses are dumb: just that the specialties are very different. What would you think about a critical care nurse trying to get advanced certification in L&D without any actual birthing experience?

As an aside, I saw the fish picture and thought "holy fish? Huh? I don't get it." Lol