Has anyone here had to do clinicals in OB

mcknis · Feb 13, 2007

I am looking forward to my OB rotation this spring only a few weeks away! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! School is flying by so quickly! Only a year and a half left!

Annointed_RNStudent · Feb 13, 2007

I am actually a male student who did OB last summer and loved every bit of it, and now I will be making a career out of L&D when I graduate, It can be the best or worst experience, I certainly would go in open-minded, Usually when people are on the table they dont' care about gender, just about getting the "bowling ball out", not to say there aren't some that will, but in all actuality that happens on Med-surg floors also~

Keep ur head up!

TrendSetter · Feb 16, 2007

OB was my first clinical. If I hadn't met some great friends and had a great instructor, I may have quit because of that rotation.

The duties performed are a bit, uh, uncomfortable, but otherwise very interesting medically and very "hands on."

The reason it was a bad rotation was the staff RNs who, just like a previous poster's, took away a lot of potential experience because they pretty much shooed me out of the room. And this was a teaching hospital.

My advice for someone in this position is to be very assertive (yet professional and friendly) toward your instructor and the hospital staff about not getting into this type of situation. Some patients may be standoffish, but the more professional and comfortable YOU are in the situation the more comfortable the patient will be. Of course, that's true in any clinical situation, but here I think it is especially important.

Remember, it's short. You'll look back and laugh at it later. I'll never forget in the OR after a cesarian, the float RN gave me the placenta in a bowl and said, "here play with this!"

She was serious and I played with the placenta....

leesespieces · Feb 16, 2007

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

well, i'm sure you will be orientated and told what to expect. i'm sure you will also be taught how to perform newborn care, postpartum assessments, how to read fetal monitors etc etc. when i did my ob rotation we worked with labor patients, postpartum, and in the nursery. in l&d we were really only allowed to follow the rn and provide comfort measures. the liability is too high and we were not allowed to administer meds or do lady partsl exams. we pretty much watched and learned. in post-partum we performed post-partum assessments including fundal checks, lochia flow checks, breast assessment, giving the inital baby bath, doing newborn assessments, feedings, meds, assissting with breastfeeding...pretty much total care. in the nursery we did assessments, fed, changed, rocked the babies. my hospital didn't have a nicu but did have a spec care nursery and our duties there were limited as well due to high liability. i didn't have any male students in my group but have males friends who were at different facilities and there responsibilites were the same as everyone else's.

good luck to ya!!

West_Coast_Ken, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2007

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.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me, in fact I was asked to leave one pts room and a few minutes later in walked the male doc, no problem at all.

Our OB clinical instructor said a lot has to do with how the pt is approached. She doesn't ask the pt, rather she says "This is ___ and he is a nursing student and he will be working with you today." If they object, the assignment is changed, but the pt isn't asked some dumb thing like "Can this MALE student watch, hummm?"

Don't ask 'em, tell 'em and be professional.

antihippie · Feb 27, 2007

Never had a problem on my OB rotation, I got to see 7 vag deliveries and a C-section and as far as I know was never turned down by anyone. OB was a fun rotation but I wouldn't want to do it for a living due to the fact that I like too see new stuff instead of the same eitiology over and over. As an aside I work on a Gyn/Peds floor now and have only been turned down by one pt for "personal area" care and she later apologized to me and said she felt like a heel. I think it all has to do with showing confidence in yourself and letting the pt know that you are a professional.

tropicbound · Mar 17, 2007

I had an OB rotation last semester that was on problem. The only difference between the female students and the two of us guys, is that we had to have a female student or staff member present when we did a lochia check.

Part of it may be that it was at the county hospital, but the biggest thing, in my opinion, is your attitude. They are all patients that need care, and their sex shouldn't matter to you, except for the "female present" rule, but that would be the same if we were in a Med-Surg unit and had to insert a Foley.

november17, ASN, RN · Mar 19, 2007

I completed my OB rotation around this time last year. I assisted with one birth, and the patient had no problem with it whatsoever. In fact, her and her husband were very nice and supportive throughout the time I was with them.

The only problem I did have was a rude comment made by one of the staff, but I will not go into that. It was no big deal and I brushed it off.

jonb1213 · Mar 30, 2007

I like the point that "email4kh" made about male doc. v. male nurse. very true.

UCFpinoSN · Mar 30, 2007

I start my OB rotation next week and I'm definitely uneasy about it. It's strange though because it's not like I haven't taken care of female patients, and while in the PICU I have had some infant patients. I think its more of the preconception that "males don't belong in the OB." But I mean statistically more male nurses go into ICU, ER and surgery. Anyways I will keep you all updated. And the whole male doctor v. male nurse is very interesting, we'll see what happens.

richardjboro1 · Mar 31, 2007

I'll add my .02 cents.

I finished up mine this semester, and it was the most uncomfortable time I've ever had. The CI was brand new, didn't seem to like me (more on that later) and the RN's were just... almost awful. We were all able to.. "do our own things" but the RN's never let us observe them. They wanted us to do vitals and stay out of the way.

The CI ended up telling me point blank "No soph nursing student can get 100 from me for the term. They don't know enough yet. " So, anyway, It was 4 or 6 weeks of pure torture, that is finally over. On a positive note, I'm on a M/S joint floor now, and absolutely LOVE it.

Later,

Richard

Scrubz · Mar 31, 2007

I just flat out don't like OB, or peds for that matter. I just can't get into it. I do it for the sake of doing it so that I can pass with a good grade, but I take nothing out of it. My goal is to get into a critical care setting, so L&D is on the other side of the planet for me. All of the girls tell me I'm boring to be around in OB.. Well yeah, cause I'm bored as heck. I'd rather see an open heart surgery than a live birth any day of the week.

Just a vent, but I just can't stand it. I only have 5 weeks of school left, and only 4 clinical days, so it's not too bad I guess.