L&D/LDRP in San Diego

klone, MSN, RN · Jun 17, 2020

I would say to stay put until you can have a solid 2 years of L&D experience under your belt, and perhaps a professional certification.

labornurse123 · Jun 19, 2020

Thanks for your response! I am going to try to get my AWHONN Intermediate FHM certificate in the meantime.

msstiletto97, BSN, RN · Jun 30, 2020

Hi there,

I'm a new grad nurse but I live in San Diego. Have you looked into Palomar Health? Also some other ones you might try may include Alvarado Hospital or Paradise Valley Hospital. These are not huge named ones but it may help you get more experience while waiting for one of those. ?

labornurse123 · Jul 1, 2020

Hey Madeline,

I didn’t even know about these hospitals, so thank you! It looks like there are a few L&D positions at some of these facilities, so I will definitely apply. Great advice.I’ll let you know if something lands!

lpjohnso · Jul 29, 2020

Have you had any luck yet? My LDRP department just opened a full-time night position. Let me know if you want to know more. ?

labornurse123 · Jul 30, 2020

@lpjohnso Many leads, but no luck landing an interview yet. However, I would absolutely love to know more about the position on your LDRP unit!! I can't seem to private message you. I created an email address so you can email me and I can give you my actual contact info. The email address is [email protected]. Looking forward to hearing from you!

mrsecookie · Jul 30, 2020

7 hours ago, lpjohnso said:
Have you had any luck yet? My LDRP department just opened a full-time night position. Let me know if you want to know more. ?

Hi, I was wondering if you had any information about the position open in your department? I have my BSN and 6 months of RN experience in a LTC and am trying to get into LD.

lpjohnso · Jul 30, 2020

Hi there!

The position is at Scripps, and unfortunately Scripps doesn’t hire someone into L&D without L&D experience. They don’t even hire new grads straight into L&D. New grads have to work 18 months in med/surg before being allowed to apply to the Transition program to be trained in L&D.

I’m not sure how it’s done else where, but I think a lot of hospitals have transitional programs for their existing nurses. My department has hired and trained ER, Med/surg, and ICU nurses to L&D.

My best advice to you would be to get hired in a hospital that has an L&D dept. Get your Fetal Heart Monitoring Certificate and your NRP certificate (both are extremely important when trying to show the L&D manager that you are eager!!). Once working in the hospital, contact the L&D manager and tell them how interested you are to work in L&D, and ask what you can do to be a competitive candidate.

Also, keep applying to hospitals that have an L&D New Grad program! I think you can apply within 12 months of becoming an RN!

I’m so sorry! I know how hard it is! Don’t give up!! It’ll happen one day if you just keep trying! Best of luck to you!

jjsarah88 · Aug 21, 2020

I don't know if you found any luck yet, but I'm definitely struggling and I have 3+ years of experience! I did have a gap doing pediatric home health (short relocation, my husband is in the military) and haven't done L&D in about 10 months. I recently called one hospital where my application got to the hiring manager, but still rejected...she said the other candidate had more years of experience and RNC-OB and C-EFM. Both of which were certifications I'd never even heard of. I think the San Diego area is just flooded with a lot of really, really experienced/highly qualified nurses so it takes a lot to stand out...especially in a specialty. I'm going to keep applying, making connections where I can (thanks COVID...), and work on maybe getting more certifications if I don't hear anything back soon. Good luck to you, but know you're not the only one!

labornurse123 · Aug 21, 2020

Hey everyone! Just wanted to give an update. So I decided to expand my search beyond just San Diego and ended up landing three interviews - one in LA, one in Irvine, and one in San Diego (the San Diego one was due to the help of a fellow allnurses friend who told me her unit was hiring and helped me land an interview). Unfortunately, I didn’t land the LDRP job in San Diego. However, I ended up getting an offer from the LDRP unit in Irvine and the L&D unit in LA.

I decided to take the position in Irvine on the LDRP unit and couldn’t be happier! I should start sometime mid-October and am looking to move to either Huntington Beach or Newport Beach. Both would be about a 20-30 minute drive to work.

I guess my advice from the last three months of applying for jobs in San Diego would be to open your search up a little bit and don’t get too hyper-focused on one city. You never know where the Universe is leading you and where you are actually meant to be! Thinking of moving to HB or NB now actually resonates with me a lot more than SD does, and I would have never thought about those two cities before. As soon as I opened up my search to different cities in southern Cal, I landed three interviews in a week. Also, look into applying to smaller hospitals that may not be as well known.

I still don’t have my Fetal Monitoring Certificate and and will only have a year of LDRP experience come October, but I definitely think having that certificate and more experience would have made me more competitive. All in all, I am happy with the outcome. Good luck to everyone else out there who is struggling to find an L&D job in southern Cal! Keep applying, make as many connections as you can, and keep working towards those certifications!

P.S. If you are out of state like me, make sure you apply for your CA license ASAP! I applied for mine mid-May and it will be here at the end of October. I wish I had applied sooner because it can take 3+ months to process.