L&D RN in DC/Maryland region

NurseKait_11, BSN, RN · Feb 20, 2019

Hey!

I currently work in NICU but am looking to get into L and D myself! I did my practicum at University of Maryland St. Joseph medical center though, in L and D and really liked it. I am not sure about c-section rates at hospitals but I can give you some of what I know for the units in general.

Holy Cross in Silver Spring is one of the busiest, if not the busiest L and D in the DC, MD and VA area. I interviewed there and they pretty much are always busy and always have patients. They contract you for two years. I'm sure you'd get lots of experience there with different types of patients! They have around 20 rooms, maybe a few more!

U of MD Medical Center in Downtown Baltimore just renovated their L and D and it's nice! They have I believe 11 rooms, 3 ORs, a triage area and I think 5 PACU beds. They are pretty busy and UMMC has a great cardiology center and have lots of high risk moms, as well as a Level IV NICU.

St. Joe's was a nice unit from what I remember from my practicum. They have great midwives and I was able to see equal amount of midwife and OBGYN births. They have a small unit. I want to say 9 rooms? And it was a good mix of busy and slow.

Anne Arundel Medical center is the 2nd busiest in Maryland from what I know. They are a good sized unit with 2 ORs, 5 PACUs and I believe 20 rooms as well. They have a "family-centered cesarean" which I think is cool to make a more positive birth experience for the mom and family. You can definitely google this and read more about it!

I know it's very general information but it's most of what I know about some Maryland L and D units!

Kait

Hildog, BSN, RN · Mar 10, 2019

Thanks for your reply! Holy Cross keeps popping up on various posts that I have made so it’s a definite contender. When did you interview there?

(Good luck with the job search!)

NurseKait_11, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2019

Thank you, I hope you have good luck too!

I interviewed there in September of 2017! I was told that it's extremely busy and once you transfer a patient you'll likely get another soon after. It was a pretty large unit. I think the ratio was 2 patients per nurse or you can have 4 couplets at a time. They do contract you for you two years. I believe I was told it may be exactly 24 or a little over 24 months. If you want a lot of experience in a very fast paced unit, I'm sure you'll get it!