Med/Surg to L&D?

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 7, 2008

According to the RNs on my floor who have NO work experience other then L&D and are great nurses, you should be fine. Of course there are a few old school nurses with many years of Med Surg experience that disagree. However, the working conditions on those floors at my hospital are awful and so the environment is not conducive any type of learning except if you are learning how to move from floor to floor or need an excuse to get out of acute care. GL.

klone, MSN, RN · Jan 7, 2008

I went immediately from nursing school to L&D, so I would think that 9 months of Med/surg would only HELP you.

mesixfuture · Jan 7, 2008

When hiring for L&D, no experience is of any help to your resume except L&D experience, and maybe a little postpartum or some nursery. You are just as likely to get hired after nine months of med-surge as somebody is after nine months of dialysis. We recently hired a girl who had years of experience in CCU (and she was a good unit nurse)and she actually had to have longer orientation than a girl who had only two years of experience in an L&D somehwere else. L&D is like nothing else. The patients are different, most of the meds are different, the docs are different, even the documentation is different from anything you are used to. It's also one of the most rewarding jobs there is. Go for it!

gdelrosa · Jan 7, 2008

i had a year of tele experience before I started L&D. It is completely different than my old job! It's so different that I'm not sure how much my tele experience will help me other than I know how to assess for abnormals, start an IV, and read some kind of monitoring strip.

Tomorrow is my first day off orientation so I'm kind of scared but excited too.

Gail

crysobrn · Jan 7, 2008

I was in Med/Surg for 3 yrs prior to L&D... I applied for a job in OB after 6 mos on the floor and did not get it because the nurse manager preferred that her nurses have more experience... I was not very happy at the time. But I'm so glad now that I had that time on the floor. Like everyone here has said, it is totally different than anything else, but I also think that ANY experience helps:up:

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jan 7, 2008

I have to agree with the other posters. ANY experience you get anywhere else is going to help you in L/D, though it is a horse of a completely different color regardless.

You are occasionally going to have laboring or unstable antepartum women with med-surg problems and a m/s background will come in handy then. I used to work in a community health center and have found even that to come in handy in my current job (even though I don't do l/d). Med/surg problems happen in labor. You'll need to expect a different sort of paperwork, meds, and orders (as other posters have said), as well as the reminder that you're dealing with TWO patients' interests. But every nurse I've seen come from med/surg to any part of OB nursing (nursery, pp, or l/d) has done well.