Labor as a spring board to acute care?

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · May 28, 2018

Sorry...in what way is L&D not acute care?

klone, MSN, RN · May 28, 2018

Define what you mean by "acute care" because I sense your definition is different from mine, or perhaps the rest of the world.

Everline · May 28, 2018

Yeah, I don't get it. What do you consider L&D because I have always considered it acute care. Can't imagine how it wouldn't be considered as such...

jcol1460 · May 28, 2018

Define what you mean by "acute care" because I sense your definition is different from mine, or perhaps the rest of the world.

Acute care in my definition is ER, ICU, Step Down units. That's my ultimate goal, but the hospitals in my area don't hire new grads directly to this units. I have an offer from L&D unit which I'm interested in, but I'm concerned about getting pigeonholed into that specialty and not being able to move about into other areas down the road. Nursing is a second career for me.

LovingLife123 · May 28, 2018

Acute care is any type of hospital care. I think you are thinking more of critical care.

Think about the meaning of acute. It's short term. Acute pain vs chronic pain. Acute would be a hospital where short term stays vs a long term care facility for chronic long term problems.

jcol1460 · May 28, 2018

Acute care is any type of hospital care. I think you are thinking more of critical care.
Think about the meaning of acute. It's short term. Acute pain vs chronic pain. Acute would be a hospital where short term stays vs a long term care facility for chronic long term problems.

Yes, should have used the term critical care.

klone, MSN, RN · May 28, 2018

Yes, you mean critical care, not acute care.

I would say that if your heart is not in L&D, you would be doing you, your unit, and your patients a disservice by taking a position that you're planning to bail on as soon as a critical care position opens up. L&D training is a LONG process. It would suck for them to invest months of training and then have you leave as soon as you're all trained.

Speaking from the perspective of an L&D manager, so I acknowledge that my opinion is biased.

jcol1460 · May 28, 2018

It's not that my heart isn't in it at all....and I'm not the kind of person to bail as soon as I could. L&D is one of the specialties I liked and applied for specifically. I just want to make sure I'm not doing myself a disservice in the long run by going into a specialty that will be hard to get out of when/if I decide to go to critical care.

I heard during nursing school that being a nurse meant you could do pretty much anything, but I also heard some specialties (like psych) can end up trapping you into it because the skills aren't necessarily transferable to other areas. Just curious which one is true.....

SmilingBluEyes · May 28, 2018

No it's not a "springboard" into anything. It's "acute care" in a specialty all its own.

L/D is its own animal and won't move you along if you, say, want to do CCU/ICU/ER.

If you don't want to be an L/D nurse, save that position for someone trying for years to get it; there are many who would love that job and have waited a long time for an opportunity. Find another springboard.

Sour Lemon · May 28, 2018

The idea of a long term labor and delivery unit is sort of amusing to me. Anyway ...I'm under the impression that most patients in L&D are relatively young and "healthy". They're at least healthy enough to have a baby. I've seen a few train wrecks, but that seems to be the exception and not the rule. And for the most part, their challenges and emergencies seem to be unique to their specialty. Med/surg would be a better fit for someone hoping to move into critical care, IMO. L&D might not keep you out of ICU, but it would be a tougher transition.

jcol1460 · May 28, 2018

This particular L&D unit is in a trauma based hospital with a level 3 nicu and specializes in high risk pregnancies. Not saying that the patients aren't generally healthier most of the time, but the potential for very sick moms/babies is more present than most.

But like I said, it is one of the specialties I liked, so it's not like I'm settling at all....just curious about what happens long term if I decide to change specialities. And if I really think about it, what I liked the most about ICU was the smaller patient load with the ability to be more involved instead of running around like a chicken doing nothing but pushing a med cart from room to room only to start over again at the end of the hall because it's time for the next med pass to start (which was my experience with med surg rotations). I didn't see that the nurses really had time to connect very well with their patients because they had too high of a load.