Is starting in OB right out of school a good idea?

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I'm a nursing student in my senior year. I know I am definitely leaning away from med/surg. However, I constantly hear how it is important to get floor experience before entering any specialties. People say you can "lose your skills". I really felt a calling to either NICU or Labor and Delivery. My clinical rotation on these units was extremely exciting and I feel as if this is where I belong.

I'm worried I will get here and regret entering a specialty right away... OB nurses what are your thoughts?!

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

I'm not an OB nurse. I went into psych right out of school because it was where I wanted to be.

Go where you want to go. The last thing a med surg floor needs is a bunch of new grads who don't really want to be there. You won't lose skills. You don't really have skills yet. You get them when you start working. You'll get the skills relevant to your specialty.

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I went straight to NICU because I loved it and never looked back. Had a great new grad program that allowed me to be competent in caring for level 3 babies once off oriention.

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
I went straight to NICU because I loved it and never looked back. Had a great new grad program that allowed me to be competent in caring for level 3 babies once off oriention.

I think that's the key. I had several nursing school buddies who went straight into L&D/Mother Baby and were safely precepted into being extremely competent nurses.

You should take the job that is available to you, and work for a year. You don't have to love nursing, or feel like you belong. It's a job. Sometimes the job comes with more satisfaction (I loved public health nursing and I love school nursing) but in a tight job market, new nurses are not likely to have their pick of specialty care.

Having said that - join the L&D nursing organization and start networking now if it's what you really want. And be flexible about where you go. The nurses I mentioned above work at the county's public hospital and had no trouble doing what they wanted.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

If that is the specialty you want then there's nothing wrong with starting there if you are fortunate enough to secure a new grad position in that highly coveted and competitive specialty. Just know that working outside of that specialty will be difficult should you ever change your mind, due to the unique nature of the patient population. It is very specific.

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Go for it. Good luck.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
Go for it. Good luck.

Yea! What she said!

I got enough OB experience for me while standing around like a dufus "watching" the OB nurses during my clinicals and then "watching" my kids being born...uh, no thank you!!

If you get that chance, jump on it!

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