Has anyone here had to do clinicals in OB

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Specializes in med surg.

Im a nursing student and I am starting clinical with postpartum patients. I really dont know what to expect becuase OB is completely new to me, especially being a guy. What has your experiences been with new mothers? any advice?

PS. I am a first year, second semester student

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Specializes in Dialysis (All Modalities) , Ex-CVICU RN.

Hey Eds.

Come to think of it. My OB rotation was a breeze. My advice is to pick postpartum patients who have had other children, be confident. They are likely to allow males to do a lochia flow check and other assessment details that new mothers may not allow male students to do. I've had to do some teachings to new mothers about the fundus and other things i don't seem to recall. But overall it was a 50/50 change i'd be able to do a PP assessment and whole 9 yards.

Good luck. Oh yeah holding their newborn child is a wonderful experience....i don't have children yet.

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Specializes in med surg.

thanks for the advice; since i will get to choose a patient with previous pregnancies.

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Well,,,it was one of the toughest semesters for me! So, my advice is...well... remember safety for the mom, baby, and use your common sense and all the knowledge you have aquired. Try not to let the nurses and anybody else to intimidate you. Hope the best for you.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I was uncomfortable, but did o.k. The instructors picked my patients for me, but in L&D they picked great patients. One lady never delivered and we just sat and talked. Another women was on her fifth child was was very comfortable with me there. I agree that having someone who has been there and done that is a good idea. I was lucky to that both didn't have male partners hovering over us.

Good luck.

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Don't make the mistake I made: instructor set me up like a bowling pin when she asked me: "You're not enjoying yourself here, are you?" Naturally, my knee jerk response was: "No!"

wrong anwser!

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I felt intimidated by OB, because I am a female who never had kids. I've had an equal amount of gyns that where male and female and it never bothered me what sex they were. Most of these women are so use to showing there gentials I don't think they care. My first patient asked me if I wanted to cut the cord? Her husband wasn't present and he was in jail and we developed a good relationship during her hours of labor. Maybe a male figure would have been comforting to her. I think it could go either way. Just get what you can out of it and be professional.

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Specializes in LTC.

It was 20 years ago and it's still painfull :chuckle, but I did have a great grandmotherly instructor that took me under her wing and really didn't give me a hard time. She seemed to seek out the patient assignments that would be most comfortable for me and the patient.

It wasn't so much how intimidated/afraid I felt as a 19 yr old male being in a world I really felt I didn't belong (which was true), but more about how I knew most of my patients felt. The very young moms and first-time moms were the worst, but it seemed that the more 'experienced' moms (i.e. third, fourth time around) were much more accepting and didn't seem to care who or how many people gandered at their junk.

Loved, loved being in the nursery, though!

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i actually did very little during my OB clinicals. since i wasnt at a "teaching hospital," patients could refuse that a student watched. in 6 weeks i saw staple taken out of a c-section incision and a vag culture. other than that, i really wasnt allowed in rooms that much. my nursing instructor was a little angry with the hospital and talked to the nurses about it, but they really counldnt do that much. she sort of laughed it off like i did. the other guy in my clinical got to do alot of stuff, so i dont know if they just didnt like the way i looked or what!

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Specializes in Perioperative Orthopaedics - scrub/circ.

It's normal. Sometimes, the nurse your shadowing is more uncomfortable than you! I knew that my OB rotation might be the only time I would ever see a birth (i'll probably be on the "support" side when I have my kid), so I was very exited.

The thing that irked me, was when the nurse I shadowed would first go into the room and ask if it was ok if a MALE nursing student could observe. I understand it's ALL up to the pt. It's their day. But why throw my gender in it? Why couldn't I JUST be a nursing student?

I'm in a second-career program, 27 years old, waiting outside while my nurse asked this... she then poked her head outside and said, "sorry, she said no guy students." Then closed the door. Just AT THAT MOMENT, an anesthesiologist and 3 residents (all either younger than me, or my age), walked right in...

It sucks that things are like this. I have friends in both med school and paramedic school and neither had an experience like I did. I eventually did get to help in the Miracle of Life, another nurse took me under her wing and introduced me to patients as a Nursing Student... not a MALE Nursing student.

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I thought it was interesting that women often got very uptight about having a male OB nurse in the same room, but a male doctor could go in up to his elbow and the same patients wouldn't give his gender a second thought.

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I just completed an OB rotation and it went very well.

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