Labor deliv RN moving to the triangle

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Hi, sometime in the next few months, my husband, myself and my 3 young children, 5,3 and 3 weeks will be headed south from Annapolis md to the triangle to be closer to family in holly springs and clayton. I have a few years of labor Delv exp and currently work in a high risk level 3 NICU labor delivery Unit with 24 rooms,5 triage and 3 OR's. We handle triage, antepartum, and infusions of mag etc for ante and post partums that get sent back down to us. I love my job which makes this move hard. I have heard amazing things about wake med, UNC hosp and Duke hosp. I've heard unc benefits are awesome and they are prob closest to what I am coming from i terms of high risk w NICU and volume/population.

My parents moved to clayton and the housing out there is enticing. Johnston county health hospital has a women's wing or a new l&d department I heard. Can anyone give me some insight on any of the hospitals and how the nurses like working there..I would really appreciate it! Also looking at travel assignments in those areas too. Thank you!

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I'm needing insight as well. Hopefully we can get a local to respond ;)

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

Stay away from JoCo!! If you are going to live in Clayton/Holly Springs (which, by the way are not close) UNC is the farthest away. Rex, which is a UNC affiliate has a great Women's center and, I don't know how to classify it, but it isn't the highest level NICU but they have a specialty nursery. Duke is going to be closer and they have a high risk NICU. WakeMed is close to and they have a NICU like Rex does. JoCo anything remotely risky is going to be sent out. Does not have a great rep, has a purpose as a community hosp, but very small. I drive 45 min to go to Duke when JoCo is 20 min for me. None of my classmates have stayed there (I went to the comm college in JoCo)

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Thank you!

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Where are you moving from? Are you l&d too?

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Without disclosing where I currently work (sorry, I like to keep that private), I will give you a basic break down of the larger hospitals and their satellites in the area as far as L&D is concerned. If you do a search here and look on Glassdoor.com, you'll find lots of opinions on each hospital.

Duke is a tertiary referral center with a very large L&D unit (21 beds last count) and a separate mother/baby and antepartum unit, all housed on the same floor. They have a level 4 NICU in house, and specialize in care of micro preemies and critically ill neonates. They have a dedicated women's anesthesia department, so you don't have to "share" with the rest of the hospital. It is a teaching hospital, so you get all that comes with that as well.

UNC is a tertiary referral center as well, and I believe their L&D has 15 beds. They also have a separate antepartum and mother/baby unit. They have a level 4 NICU in house, and also specialize in the care of micro preemies and critically ill neonates. I don't know their anesthesia department is dedicated women's or if they share anesthesia with the rest of the hospital. It is a teaching hospital, so again, you get all that comes with that. UNC is unique in that while they are a tertiary referral center and a teaching hospital, they also have a birthing center specifically for lower risk midwifery patients who wish to have lower intervention births. I hear lots of nice things about that.

Wake Med is a tertiary referral center and not only has a level 4 NICU, but also has an OB ICU unit in house, and has an OB trauma team as well. I don't know how many labor suites they have, but do know that they have a separate antepartum and mother/baby unit as well. Wake Med is also a teaching hospital.

UNC Rex is not a tertiary referral center, but has a large L&D unit with I believe 12 (possibly 15? not sure...) beds. It has a separate unit that is combined antepartum and mother/baby together. They have a level 3 NICU/Special care nursery, and typically ship out the micropreemies and very sick babies to either Wake or Duke (or wherever there is a bed available). Although Rex is owned by UNC, it is not a teaching hospital.

Wake Med has 2 satellite hospitals that also do L&D: Wake Med Cary and Wake Med North. Wake Med North just opened a year ago, and is a smaller hospital. I'm not sure how many labor beds, but do know they have a combined antepartum mother/baby unit with a level 2-3 special care nursery. It is not a teaching hospital. Wake Med Cary has been around much longer, and from what I hear is quite busy. I'm not sure how many labor suites they have, but they also have separate antepartum and mother/baby units. Their nursery is level 3 special care.

Getting a job here if you are an experienced L&D nurse will not be hard. There are plenty of jobs to be had, even if not at your first choice hospital. Hope this helps!

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Forgot about Duke Regional (formerly Durham Regional)! They are a smaller unit (6 beds I think), and have a combined antepartum mother/baby unit. Their nursery is a level 2-3 Special care, but they mostly deal in well babies and "feeder/growers." Although they are owned by Duke, and some residents go there, it isn't your typical teaching hospital setup there, with interns and all levels of residents and attendings and fellows in house all the time, all rounding etc.. They do have residents there, though, so I guess technically it's a teaching hospital. They have some practices there who use midwives, and the patients who see the midwives are exclusive midwifery patients.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

quazar-you obviously know the mommy/baby stuff LOL. I am glad you were able to clarify what I was unable to do. I have heard that WakeMed Cary is not great about having a neonate MD on premises and if something goes south, it can be tricky.

Thanks for clearing up what I poorly attempted!!!

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quazar-you obviously know the mommy/baby stuff LOL. I am glad you were able to clarify what I was unable to do. I have heard that WakeMed Cary is not great about having a neonate MD on premises and if something goes south, it can be tricky.

Thanks for clearing up what I poorly attempted!!!

No problemo. I know nothing about ortho, so if you asked me about that, all I could do is look at you funny and tell you to google. ;)

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Specializes in ICU, Military.

I worked at WakeMed for 6 years and loved it there. They treat their employees well. I worked in the CTICU so cant speak for NICU there but they do have a separate Children's ER and the NICU stays busy.

I own a house in the Cary/Apex area southwest of Raleigh. WakeMed has a satellite hospital in Apex (no NICU), and a larger hospital in Cary. If you plan on living in Clayton, WakeMed Raleigh Campus would be closest to there. If you live plan on living in Clayton, UNC or Duke would be a very very long commute.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

^^ I'm down here too, and I can verify that UNC and Duke would be far, far away from Clayton. Most nurses that live in the satellite suburbs of Raleigh (Garner, Clayton, Holly Springs) prefer WakeMed, nurses from Greensboro/Pittsboro come up to UNC, and then Duke gets commuters from Person County/VA line.

I know of a few commuter nuts (one girl drives up from Pinehurst area to Duke, stays overnight, goes back down next day) and another who makes the trip 3x/week from near Lillington to UNC, but in general you won't find people willing to drive more than an hour to work.

Geographically, the Triangle is spread out, so you can generally find one of the big 3 in reach.

Duke Regional and Rex are nice community hospitals; I did clinicals at Duke Regional and thought it had a nice homey feel to it.

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Ideally we want to be in holly springs bc that's where all the family is. My parents live in Clayton now, came down a year ago, and the houses are so much bigger and cheaper. I think I will miss my shopping if I lived in Clayton though. I live 5 min from my hosp, whole foods, target, mall w Nordstrom and Cheesecake Factory etc. I NEED my comforts;)

my sister in law and friends all Delv at Rex and they live close to wake med in cary. I'm trying to decide now if I want to do the travel nurse route and take a 13 week assignment or apply for a full/part time position within the hosp. I'm also going to take a big pay hit going south:( that's not going to be fun.

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