Inpatient obstetric cert. vs. maternal newborn cert. ??

[Daiseymay]

I am an experienced l&d nurse (3 years) and an IBCLC. I am interested in one of these certifications and EFM certifiation. What is the difference in inpatient OB and maternal newborn? Any recommendations, thoughts or advice?? Thanks!!

[klone, MSN, RN]

inpatient obstetric is L&D, and maternal-newborn is mother-baby/postpartum.

If you're an L&D nurse, my recommendation is to do the RNC-OB.

[Daiseymay]

Thanks! I do mostly labor and delivery but I work very closely with mother baby because of my heavy passion of breastfeeding assistance and my lactation certification. I think both may be a good fit. I think inpatient OB may be most useful to me since I work labor and delivery the most right now. Do you or anyone else have experience with the certifications and/or have any advice about them? The boards to be an ibclc was very difficult especially since Te topic was so broadly covered.

[klone, MSN, RN]

If you thought the IBCLC exam was difficult, then I am guessing that you will find the RNC certification exam to be particularly challenging. I personally did not find the IBCLC exam to be very difficult, but the RNC-OB exam is extremely challenging.

[Daiseymay]

Ok! Most of my difficulty with ibclc was taking it a week after a c-section. I was drained and found the topic was covered more broadly than I had expected. What resources do you recommend for the RNC-OB?

[Traveldee]

I studied AWHONN''s Perinatal Nursing book almost exclusively, and passed the Inpatient OB nurse exam last week. I have heard of people taking review courses, which I'm sure are helpful, but I don't think you necessarily need them. (I had 2 years OB experience when I took the exam).