Med/surg first?

BellasMommyOBRN · Aug 27, 2012

Some hospitals allow you to start in l/d as a new grad. It's not necessary but because of the competition for those floors those spots normally go to experienced nurses.Good luck! OB is a wonderful place to be!

monkeybug · Aug 28, 2012

Our instructors gave us the typical line about how we should really work med/surg first to get a good basis, blah blah blah. Honestly, i would have quit after 3 weeks and I'd probably by working in Target now. I precepted in L&D and went back to the unit I precepted in after graduation. I see the pros and cons of both situations. I think if you work med/surg you have to make major readjustments to the amount of autonomy you have in L&D. In our hospital, med/surg nurses never, ever, ever call a doctor. The charge nurse or supervisor determines if a call needs to be made, and then they do the calling. As L&D nurses at the same hospital, we call and we have to know what we should call about. We also usually call after we've handled the situation. It's not uncommon for us to triage a patient and order labs and only call the MD after the results come back. That's more than a little bit backwards, but that's the way the doctors like it, and I've never had one tell me I should have called before starting an IV or doing a UA. Med/surg would definitely make it easier to take care of the sick pregnant women. We once had a pregnant woman go into heart failure. The new grad who had her on night shift didn't really get what was going on, because all she had ever dealt with were well women delivering.

I don't blame you for wanting in OB, it's all I ever wanted!