L&D or Mother&Baby???

matchstickxx · Feb 24, 2006

Many hospitals want L&D nurses to have some nursing experience. Even hospitals hiring inexperienced RNs may only hire a couple a year.

Starting out on mother baby is a great way to "get your foot in the door" for a future labor and delivery position. Our hospital will sometimes float a mother baby nurse to L&D to help out with call lights, IVs, recoveries. It is a great way to show the L&D folks just what kind of nurse you are.

Even if your hospital doesn't float you to L&D, you can still get some fantastic experience working on a M/B unit. Whenever a future L&D position comes open you can point out your M/B experience and how it has prepared you to become an L&D nurse.

Whatever you choose to do, I wish you luck in your new position.

camay1221_RN · Feb 24, 2006

I have worked postpartum for over six years now. In 2004, I thought I would give L&D a try, as I was starting to feel restless in mom/baby.

I learned very quickly, that L&D has more unknown factors than mom/baby. Not being one that deals well with adrenaline, I found I wasn't cut out for L&D. L&D, in my opinion, can be like an ICU, whereas, you have to be able to think on your feet and be able to act in a moments notice. Also, other than getting your experience with skills, I didn't think the med/surg background is necessary. Now, please no flames, cause as I said, this is an opinion. Med/surg does not train you to handle two pts within one.

I have been back in mom/baby for a year, and it only took that six months for me to realize that is my niche, and I haven't been happier!

Good luck on whatever you decide!

JourneyCC · Feb 24, 2006

Great points from previous posters. All I can add is, if you have your heart set on L&D, don't sell yourself short.....especially if your state has a nursing shortage, because there will always be a L&D spot for a new grad, if the need is there. At the hospital I work at, they "try" to hire all new grads into med/surge, but when the need arises, they pull where needed. Good luck.

SuperFlyRN · Feb 24, 2006

Many hospitals want L&D nurses to have some nursing experience. Even hospitals hiring inexperienced RNs may only hire a couple a year.
Starting out on mother baby is a great way to "get your foot in the door" for a future labor and delivery position. Our hospital will sometimes float a mother baby nurse to L&D to help out with call lights, IVs, recoveries. It is a great way to show the L&D folks just what kind of nurse you are.
Even if your hospital doesn't float you to L&D, you can still get some fantastic experience working on a M/B unit. Whenever a future L&D position comes open you can point out your M/B experience and how it has prepared you to become an L&D nurse.
Whatever you choose to do, I wish you luck in your new position.

I *absolutely* agree. When I was Xtraining to L&D (we are on an LDRP Unit) it was a great way to ease your way into it. Definately getting the experience with Maternal Newborn is an asset. Jumping right into L&D is like jumping into the fire, I think. Many of our brand new, out of school hires into L&D just did not work out because it is not what they (the new RN) thought it would be. It is a lot of quick thinking on your feet and do it kind of nursing that some people are just not comfortable with. If you can, do MatNewborn first to get your feet wet.

Good luck with your decisions.

SmilingBluEyes · Feb 24, 2006

Well you could start out in LDRP like I did. But that is an overwhelming start, cause you have to learn a lot in short time. But you are never, ever bored.And you never have to worry about cross-training should your unit go LDRP or you wind up in LDRP one day. Many nurses do resist this as time goes by and they get comfortable.

imenid37 · Feb 24, 2006

I worked in cardiac tele for 3 years out of school. I spent the next seven in mother-baby.It was a lot less stress, my kids were little, so it was a great way for me to remain in nursing and not be frazzled to the max. Nine years ago, I moved and got myself a job in an LDRP unit. It's great. It was the right time of my life to do it. Look at yourself as a complete picture. What else is going on in your life right now. If you love adreneline and want to jump right in, then maybe L/D is for you. If you need to hone your assesment skills and become comfortable w/ just being a nurse, M/B may be a better fit for now. Having M/B skills was a great springboard for me, but we are all different. I love M/B, but I will concede that it can be boring at times. It is much more structured and repititous than L/D. It's great to do LDRP because you can either be in the thick of the excitement or have a little less stress on some days. A big plus is w/ everyone cross-trained, there is always an extra set of hands that know what to do in an emergency. Are you right out of school or have you just been out of nursing for awhile? Best of luck to you!

hugs&kisses · Feb 27, 2006

My fellow nurses,

Thank you for all your replies...very much appreciated.

I believe Mother & Baby suits me best right now.

After I hone my skills I can always move to L&D or NICU.

God bless.

hugs&kisses:p

SmilingBluEyes · Feb 28, 2006

Good luck. I do think you are making a good choice here.

Newbie Nurse SMP · Mar 1, 2006

Hi,

I am trying to get into the Nursing Program at my CC. i always wanted to be an L&D nurse, but now from reading about Mother/Baby Nursing that sounds alot more like what I would like to do.

This might be obvious to you guys as nurses, but could you tell me some differences in responsibilities between L&D Nursing and Mother/Baby Nursing?

Also please correct me if I am worng, but Mother/Baby is where the patients go after they have their baby until they are discharged from the hospital?

Does every hospital have different units for L&D and Mother/Baby? I am guessing Mother/Baby is the same as the "Maternity" Floor?

Sorry if I sound completely stupid here....any input is great!

Thanks!!!

LandDRN · Mar 4, 2006

We as L&D nurses at our facility are required to be able to float to M/B but M/B does not float to us unless it is to temporarily work up a baby if the baby nurse has to many deliveries to close to each other. This is primarily due to extra training L&D nurses have to have such as fetal monitoring interpretation experience and also being able to actually deliver babies should the ob not make it in time or get stuck in another delivery and his/her back up not get to the hospital in time. Whoever earlier described L&D as being like ICU as far as critical thinking and quick action was able to *verbalize* what I was thinking ( and I did a yr of recovery room and ICU overflow so I've been there too.) I think you have to have good critical thinking skills in both ( we have had perfectly healthy appearing newborns go to mother/ baby who either by mom/dad or the nurse have been found not breathing or having difficulties that require quick intervention) but normally you have much more of a chance of something crashing or going bad on L&D. Also once these problems are found either baby goes to NICU or the mom with problems comes back to the L&D side. No unstable post partum moms go to our M?B unit.

LandDRN · Mar 4, 2006

BTW, *SMP* Future RN, I don't think that was a "stupid" question at all. One thing nursing has taught me is that we never know it all. There are, and I happen to personally know a few, new nurses and even a rare seasoned nurse that prefer to think they know everything and don't ask any questions at the risk of being viewed as ignorant so they don't say anything. This is what I not only consider stupid but dangerous. I never fail to bring a coworker or doc into a situation where I'm uncomfortable or need another opinion. See, you're already thinking like a nurse by asking good questions. It amazes me how much I don't know after 7yrs and continue to learn daily. Good luck with your studies and practice!