How to get a job working with babies

[NeoNatMom]

Hi everyone! I wanted to know if anyone out there could lend me some advice. I start my program this Fall at Gwinnett Tech. I have wanted to play a role with babies (neonatal, newborns, NICU, L&D, etc). I was wondering what steps I should take to getting a position in one of those areas of a facility. I should probably add that I am pro life so I don't want to play a role in elective abortions.

Also, I understand that certain situations can occur during a wanted pregnancy that forces us to make hard decisions. Do we risk the mother's life for the child, or vise versa? Or do we leave it all up to the mother and family? How do we weigh out what to do in such situations? I know there are bound to be some sad cases in my future, especially since this area is full of sad occurrences.

Any testimonials would be appreciated as well on how to cope when you start out. I have a feeling I will have a lot of break downs where I'll wanna cry my eyes out. How do you stay strong for the families? Thanks in advance for all the advice!!! :)

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Well, first make sure you don't project your own pro-life beliefs onto patients as many patients may have different beliefs than you.

It always irks me when people assume that because someone is pro-life that they're automatically going to try to foist their religious or political beliefs on patients and/or other staff. There are many of us--myself included--who are pro-life and yet do a remarkable job of taking care of patients without passing judgment or protelyzing. So much so that unless you outright asked, you'd never know where we stood on the matter :)

I'll admit that not everyone on the pro-life side is like that...but there's just as many obnoxious individuals on the pro-choice side as well. There's going to be obnoxious extremists on all sides of any debate.

OP: many facilities will allow you to opt out of procedures based on your religious beliefs. But be sure to let them know as soon as possible so if they need to replace/reassign you, they can. And as others have pointed out, most elective terminations are done in outpatient specialty clinic settings. It should be a no-brainer that you may want to skip working at Planned Parenthood, as well as checking out what procedures a women's health clinic may do before agreeing to work there.

[NeoNatMom]

Be careful buying into schools' claims of "100% employment rate". Sure they're employed, but employed doing what? Not working in L&D and the ICU as new grad ADNs, I can assure you. How many of those nurses are working in nursing homes? Or one shift a week for a home care company? My school even had some new grads working as nurse aides or ward clerks, and they added them to their employment rate statistics.

That sucks :/ but I am optimistic. I'll try to get s position in Internships/externship during my program. Nursing homes are not cup of tea but whatever comes my way to get experience until something else comes along....won't hurt. Anything is better than my job situation currently :)

[NeoNatMom]

It always irks me when people assume that because someone is pro-life that they're automatically going to try to foist their religious or political beliefs on patients and/or other staff. There are many of us--myself included--who are pro-life and yet do a remarkable job of taking care of patients without passing judgment or protelyzing. So much so that unless you outright asked, you'd never know where we stood on the matter :)

I'll admit that not everyone on the pro-life side is like that...but there's just as many obnoxious individuals on the pro-choice side as well. There's going to be obnoxious extremists on all sides of any debate.

OP: many facilities will allow you to opt out of procedures based on your religious beliefs. But be sure to let them know as soon as possible so if they need to replace/reassign you, they can. And as others have pointed out, most elective terminations are done in outpatient specialty clinic settings. It should be a no-brainer that you may want to skip working at Planned Parenthood, as well as checking out what procedures a women's health clinic may do before agreeing to work there.

Agreed. I don't plan in going to PP...

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

Home health and private duty nurses also work with babies.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

It always irks me when people assume that because someone is pro-life that they're automatically going to try to foist their religious or political beliefs on patients and/or other staff. There are many of us--myself included--who are pro-life and yet do a remarkable job of taking care of patients without passing judgment or protelyzing. So much so that unless you outright asked, you'd never know where we stood on the matter :)

I'll admit that not everyone on the pro-life side is like that...but there's just as many obnoxious individuals on the pro-choice side as well. There's going to be obnoxious extremists on all sides of any debate.

And I wouldn't have cared. However she felt strongly enough to include that in the original post. If it is necessary for her to put that in her original post, then I view it as necessary to remind people that all types of people seek help. If she had left it out, I would have never mentioned it.

Most of my classmates that talk about how they want to get involved with L&D do not mention that they are pro-choice or pro-life. I also like to give people a real dose of what they may be getting because so many people have a perfect image of what their career will be. When people tell me they want to be a social worker or counselor because they want to help people, I point them to the Craigslist posting that is titled something along the lines of "A social worker snaps."

When someone asks me what the ER or being a firefighter was like, I tell them the good and bad. I tell them that they will see the kids dunked in hot water. The kid who had a burn mark on his leg but it was supposedly an allergic reaction (pattern was perfect and looked like the a smaller version of the bottom of my old Vans shoes). The people who had the **** beat out of them when a psych patient lost it and grabbed a heavy candle stick (kind of like Clue).

[NeoNatMom]

And I wouldn't have cared. However she felt strongly enough to include that in the original post. If it is necessary for her to put that in her original post, then I view it as necessary to remind people that all types of people seek help. If she had left it out, I would have never mentioned it.

Most of my classmates that talk about how they want to get involved with L&D do not mention that they are pro-choice or pro-life. I also like to give people a real dose of what they may be getting because so many people have a perfect image of what their career will be. When people tell me they want to be a social worker or counselor because they want to help people, I point them to the Craigslist posting that is titled something along the lines of "A social worker snaps."

When someone asks me what the ER or being a firefighter was like, I tell them the good and bad. I tell them that they will see the kids dunked in hot water. The kid who had a burn mark on his leg but it was supposedly an allergic reaction (pattern was perfect and looked like the a smaller version of the bottom of my old Vans shoes). The people who had the **** beat out of them when a psych patient lost it and grabbed a heavy candle stick (kind of like Clue).

I understand where you are both coming from. I am open to advice :) I did put how I am against elective abortions because if that would affect the range of jobs relating to babies, then I felt I should mention it. :) I need to have tough skin to take advice as someone just sharing wisdom from experience that they may or a not have experienced. Plenty of ppl do have the problem you are addressing so I thank you for sharing your insight.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I understand where you are both coming from. I am open to advice :) I did put how I am against elective abortions because if that would affect the range of jobs relating to babies, then I felt I should mention it. :) I need to have tough skin to take advice as someone just sharing wisdom from experience that they may or a not have experienced. Plenty of ppl do have the problem you are addressing so I thank you for sharing your insight.

Despite my timing, this is not directed at anyone in this thread.

Now since we are being honest about what the OP will encounter in nursing:

OP: you will definitely need to develop a thick skin if you are pro-life...both for what you may see/deal with in your patients, as well as the judgments and conclusions that patients, coworkers, and others will draw about YOU based on your beliefs. Not everyone will do this, but it does happen...and more often than many would like to admit.

Also, this is not a phenomena unique to a person being pro-life/choice; as you can see from a lot of these threads, nurses are judged on their religious, political and other beliefs as well. Many people will take just one thing that you are/believe/practice and automatically assume X, Y and Z must also apply to you. It seems to be an all-or-nothing mentality: they like to, based on one belief, place you as being entirely on one side or another.

For example, the logical conclusion is that because I'm pro-life, I must also be Catholic (or heavily religious), GOP, against X and Y, in favor of P and Q, and so on. Yes, I'm a pro-life Catholic, but I have no political affiliation, and I'm a heavy supporter of birth control, safer sex via condom use and equality/gay rights. But more likely than not, I've already been strictly labeled with the "pro-life care set."

Personally, I keep all of my beliefs on the down-low at work so there's never any issue or question by anyone as to whether my beliefs could influence my practice...they don't anyway as my focus is always on the patient, but it just makes things easier if what I feel is not a topic of conversation. Someone in another thread stated (well, wrote something similar) that having beliefs should be like being at a dinner table--there's just certain topics you shouldn't discuss. You and your conscience will need to decide what is best for you. So keep in mind what you will open yourself up for should you decide to be vocal about what you believe.

And remember that nursing care is ALWAYS about the patient.

Actually, you're going to need a thick skin for ANY area of nursing that you enter. You're going to see A LOT of horrible things regarding your patients, and it's not always going to be easy to deal with. What applesxoranges started to describe doesn't even begin to cover it.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

My advice would be to look at a Catholic Hospital to be employed. While I would say most probably about 99% of abortions are done in clinics there may be the odd one that gets performed in a hospital due to various reasons. We have a Catholic hospital in our town and a regular community hospital in our town. The Catholic one does not perform any abortions at all but that also means they don't provide certain medicines to their employees either.

For the people that are worried about those pushing beliefs on others, let me say that happens in every job. I got a divorce last year and my ex husband still had his address listed as mine. So when he was being served with papers they would get delivered here. It was the same guy every time and each time he lectured me on the perils of getting divorced and all I needed was some counseling to get me through. That guy had no idea my situation and I dreaded every time he came to the house because I knew I was in for another lecture from the baliff. It happens in every line of work. Most people keep their beliefs to themselves though. I know I would never push anything I believe on anyone and I for the most part don't discuss them unless I am real comfortable with the person and I can trust them. I see from the OPs posts that she is probably of the similar mind as me just wants to know where she can get a job.

[NeoNatMom]

Everyone has their limits regardless of policies, laws, or what have you

[NeoNatMom]

I guess what I'm trying to say is I will do my best to care for my patients and not make them feel like I am judging them. But if they do something completely against what I would do morally, I will act accordingly and find a solution. Example being that if a patient of mine chose to terminate for convenience, I'll kindly ask to be taken off of that case, and not share my opinion to the patient. Can I ask though, what other bad situations are going to arise that will make me feel like I'm doing g something wrong?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Seeing as you haven't even started your program yet, my advice is to keep an open mind. I went into nursing school thinking I wanted to work in L&D or peds. Guess what? Those were my absolute least favorite rotations. Absolutely hated them. I started in the OR, and however many years later, I'm still here- that's where I found my home. So while you may think that's what you want, you may find another area you like/fits you better. Go in without the preconceived notion of where you want to end up. Also makes it a little easier when you can't find that dream job.

[NeoNatMom]

Seeing as you haven't even started your program yet, my advice is to keep an open mind. I went into nursing school thinking I wanted to work in L&D or peds. Guess what? Those were my absolute least favorite rotations. Absolutely hated them. I started in the OR, and however many years later, I'm still here- that's where I found my home. So while you may think that's what you want, you may find another area you like/fits you better. Go in without the preconceived notion of where you want to end up. Also makes it a little easier when you can't find that dream job.

Agreed! I wouldn't mind working in other areas, but peds shouldn't have too much of this issue would it? I mean, if a young teen ends up pregnant to begin with and chose to terminate, they would then be moved to obgyn right?