Hi. I mostly lurk on these boards, but I think they're great. I'm hoping I can gain some insight from you experienced L&D nurses.
I felt a strong pull toward L&D nursing all through nursing school. I just graduated in Dec. of 2003. I was offered a job in L&D before I graduated and really wanted to take it, but I couldn't work with the rotating shifts at that point. To make a long story short, I have a daughter who is disabled and needs skilled care at home. I was not able to arrange care for her with a rotating schedule, so I turned the job down. I took a job in a subacute care unit because the schedule was always PMs, and my days were predictable. I have worked there about 7 months, but I don't intend to stay forever. My daughter just turned 18, and our county is in the process of buying a house to create an "Adult Family Home" for her and two other disabled women. She will be very near us, so we can see her every day, but I will no longer be responsible for arranging or providing her care. She will probably move by the end of the year.
So, I will be free to find a job I really want. I find myself still very interested in L&D, but I'm terrified of it as well. It seems very overwhelming because it is so foreign to me. I was a straight-A student in school, and I am a fast learner, but I'm still scared. It just seems like there is so much to know in order to provide safe care.
Can anyone give me any insight as to how long it takes to become competant, and do hospitals usually provide enough orientation so that one feels reasonably comfortable before being on their own?
Thanks for your response, Betsy. I would love to have that much orientation. I hope that's the case if I end up getting a job in L&D. At my current job, and I was fresh out of school, I got only 7 weeks of part-time orientation, and I had to request that last week. Even on a subacute unit, that was not enough. It was supposed to be full-time orientation, which would at least have been a lot better, but it did not turn out that way as most weeks I had some classroom time and was not on the floor. The classroom time was mostly orientation to the hospital system and not that closely related to my actual job. If I eventually apply for a L&D job, I will be asking a lot of questions about what orientation is like.
see2mee
20 Posts
Thanks for your response, Betsy. I would love to have that much orientation. I hope that's the case if I end up getting a job in L&D. At my current job, and I was fresh out of school, I got only 7 weeks of part-time orientation, and I had to request that last week. Even on a subacute unit, that was not enough. It was supposed to be full-time orientation, which would at least have been a lot better, but it did not turn out that way as most weeks I had some classroom time and was not on the floor. The classroom time was mostly orientation to the hospital system and not that closely related to my actual job. If I eventually apply for a L&D job, I will be asking a lot of questions about what orientation is like.
Catherine