Hospital closing my entire unit.

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I work postpartum and was in the middle of being trained in nursery because the plan was to go to couple care, when I feel like the rug was pulled out from under our unit. Due to low census and budget issues, my hospital is closing the L&D/postpartum/nursery unit and turning it into a med-surg unit. We have until the end of this month, then we are all out of a job. Oh sure, the hospital offered to let us transfer to other places in their system, but there are just a handful of women's services jobs and zero postpartum. Sure, our unit is small, but we had such potential. It is so hard to go to work on the unit, the moral is so bad.

I know I have to suck it up and carry on, but it is so hard. I want to enjoy the time I have left with my amazing coworkers, but it's overshadowed by the constant job hunting and the reality that such a good team is being dismantled. It all just makes me sick to my stomach.

It even has me thinking I need a break from this whole nursing career.

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It's getting ugly.

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UgliER, even.

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

It's tough when your the one caught, but it's nothing new.

I've personally lived through 3 restructurings and one unit closing in my long career. Would've been one more, but I jumped ship 6 months before it happened.

Hang in there, and realize it has nothing to do with you, or your worth as a nurse

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Specializes in OB.

I've seen this happen several times. I'd suggest a possibility for employment would be to talk to the providers where you are now and see where they plan to deliver their patients in the future. Those units may be looking for increased staff.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

It sucks when this happens.

Hospitals are businesses after all. If a service line/department is not profitable or at least paying for itself, it has to be eliminated so that it does not harm the overall bottom line. It happens all the time. But - If you have been offered a transfer to another area and you don't take it, they won't be giving you any severance because you will be voluntarily terminating rather than being laid off. Major suckiness.

But, that OB 'business' has to go somewhere else, right? Bagladyrn is right - go ahead an apply at those facilities if you don't want to move into a different clinical area.

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My hospital recently closed a "transitional care unit". Under the union contracts the staff had to be found jobs within the system. All are working. The vacancies were frozen until the displaced staff had been absorbed.

It's really not the end of the world. Just the end of the world as you know it.

Try and transfer to the facilty that will be absorbing the deliveries, or branch out and learn something new.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Do you have to work in women's services? Is there a job in another area within the same facility you could look into? Maybe you could transfer to another place in the system?

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I have been through this recently myself, we were given practically no notice and they did not help us with a transfer, it was up to us to find a new opportunity. My advice is to take it as an opportunity to do something new, but I know how hard it is. I've been in a new unit for about 4 months and it's a constant struggle being the new one on the unit, learning a whole new way of doing things and just learning a new specialty. I wish you luck and don't give up!

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

I read recently that the birth rate in the U.S. is at an all time low. Even OB's in some locales are having to level into other areas due to not enough patients. I wonder if this has anything to do with it. You did mention low census.

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There are no postpartum/mother-baby positions in my current system. I have applied to other positions in the same system, none of which are in women's services, but have not heard back. But things are looking up for me, I have 2 peer interviews scheduled next week from a different hospital system in mother-baby! Now I just hope my co-workers will have the same luck.

I guess it's one of those, 'live and learn' things that happen in a nursing career. Thanks for the advice!

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Good luck with the interviews.

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