L&D or Mother/baby before getting into NICU?

[thejetsetnurse]

I am a new grad and was recently offered positions from two great hospitals. One is in mother/baby and the other is in L&D. Both hospitals have a great reputation, the main difference is that the hospital of the L&D position has a level 4 NICU. I will most likely have to move to another state in a year or two so I don't know how much I should take that into consideration. My dream is to become a NICU nurse. What specialty would help me get into NICU better? Or which specialty will I learn more that is relatable to NICU nursing?

[katierobin23]

In my opinion, L&D will help you more. Mother/Baby is almost entirely healthy couplets, you'll need strong assessment skills to know when something is going wrong but for the most part your patients will be healthy.

L&D on the other hand, you'll see a wide range of deliveries... normal healthy babies to the sickest of the sick and everything in between. You also will get to see what the NICU team does for immediate stabilization of a sick baby. Good luck!

[thejetsetnurse]

Thank you for the advice!

[babyNP., APRN]

I would agree. L&D is sometimes an intensive care environment and being able to think quickly on your feet is a good skill to learn.

[HazelnutCream]

Agree, definitely L&D, especially in a hospital with a level 4 NICU, as that means you'd have more opportunity to interact with and learn from NICU nurses through handling high risk births. Greater exposure and opportunity to learn about your chosen field is always a good thing.

[kdkout, BSN, RN]

I've done both M/B & L& D at various level hospitals, and they both help in different ways. I'm doing NICU now in a level III hospital where we see the sickest moms.

L&D experience helped me to understand things in the NICU like: basic stabilization of a baby (with deliveries not requiring NICU team), what mom has gone through, why she may not be able to visit right away, what HELPP is & how it may affect my baby, why mom may have issues establishing a milk supply, etc....and yes it may help to see the NICU team come and stabilize the infant BUT when you're taking care of mom you arent watching what the NICU team is doing because you're too busy taking care of mom.

Mother/Baby (by this I assume you mean post partum couplets) is easier in most ways...but may be busier depending on how many couplets you have. You'll get better at helping with breastfeeding than you would if you only did L&D. It will help you in the NICU because you'll learn what a "normal" term baby looks and acts like....so when you see a premie you'll have a baseline knowledge of term vs preterm. (IF you have kids already you probably know some of this, definitely go for L & D instead). I think most nurses who want to do NICU would find M/B boring, BUT it is still a good job and will definitely help you with organization and time management more than L&D.

I'm a staff nurse and I dont do hiring....but If I had a choice between hiring two identical candidates that wanted a NICU job, one with M/B only experience and one with only L&D experience, I'd hire the L&D nurse. Just my opinion. Most people can figure out M/B, they may not like it, but they can do it. L&D is more challenging and requires a different, and more diverse, skill set.