Moving from Labor and Delivery to CRNA

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Dear All,

I have been there to help several of the women in my family through their pregnancies and been present at the birth of my sister. I believe I will love Labor and Delivery, however I am interested in becoming a CRNA. Have any of you transferred from Labor and Delivery into the Critical Care/become a CRNA and is it a smooth transition? Would it be better to work in ICU to develop those tough skills and then go to L and D? Is an L and D personality incompatible with Critical Care/CRNA?

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A requirement set by AANA for a CRNA is a minimum of one year critical care experience. ICU, SICU, etc. I don't think L/D will cut it.

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Two different worlds completely. I worked in the ICU with a nurse who came from L&D to be a CRNA. She had to go through the critical care residency and then spend a year in ICU like everyone else. Many programs also require you be CCRN certified which requires 2000 bedside ICU nursing hours to take. In other words, if you want to be a CRNA take the path that will lead you there. Your L&D hours won't count toward application for CRNA. Good luck!

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Thank you both for your responses.

I feel like the way to stay close to L & D roots as a CRNA is to do OB epidural procedures and pediatric Anesthesia but is there a way to marry the compatibility with/love of L & D with CRNA or is the ICU/CRNA nurse a completely different personality type than the L & D nurse?

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Specializes in SICU, L&D, MCC, Tele.

I worked in L&D for 4 years and I loved every bit of it. CRNA's covered anesthesia for my unit, over the years I talked at length with them and one crna continually urged me to consider crna. At the time i had small children and felt I couldn't make the commitment. After my youngest started kindergarten i found myself wanting more--more education--more autonomy--more of a challenge. I applied for and accepted a job in an SICU at a level I trauma center (took a decent pay cut and lost 11 years seniority). I transitioned well into the sicu and in certain ways found similarities--l&d is an acute care setting and the poop can seriously hit the fan--you have two patients to worry about!! (typically you have 2 patients in the unit but usually they do not cr*p out at the same time.) I enjoy the icu and I love the challenging pts (not the mentally challenging!!!!! but drips, vents, etc). Today they loved me because I took the maternal hemorrhage--they hate those pts! I recently applied and was accepted into a crna program (yay)--I am very excited and even though I miss l&d I cannot wait to move on to my next adventure!!

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SICUTOCRNA thank you for speaking to me. You just gave me a possible path if I choose to become a CRNA.

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Specializes in Nursery, L&D, PICU, SICU.

My story is similar to Sicuotcrna. I went to nursing school knowing that I wanted to work in L&D and I did for over 5 years and I loved it. When I felt it was time to move on and advance my career I went to the PICU and an adult SICU and now I am in my second semester of anesthesia school. I do not regret my time in L&D one bit but I also had no idea that I would one day pursue anesthesia.

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Been there- done that- out grew the t-shirt!!!! Seriously- I was L/D for 6 years prior to moving to ICU and anesthesia. Can be done but you will need to go to ICU-period. However if you really want to do CRNA then start that route if you are not sure than go to L/D and decide if L/D is for you. That way whatever you are meant to do is what you will end up doing.:yeah:

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Thank you all. I can't imagine not doing L and D first and of course getting to SRNA will take longer than if I just started out in an ICU but if I went straight into ICU, there would always be a part of me that would wonder what I had missed out on by not doing L/D. I guess what I'm taking from these posts is that I should do L/D and see how I feel about moving into a more autonomous advanced nursing career after working in L/D.

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Specializes in CVPACU, CCU, ICU.

if you love L & D so much why do you want to become a CRNA? You can become a great L & D nurse, midwife, or clin spec for L & D. Tons of options for a great L & D nurse. Good luck!

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I'm still taking pre-reqs for the BSN -- not a nurse yet. I've just had a lot of experiences in my life that make me know (99.98%) that L & D will be right for me. I've never heard of a clin spec but I was planning to become a CNM but the schedule is really unappealing to me. I'm not 21 and I'd like to consistently know what my schedule is. If its overnight, fine but the idea of always being on call and having to create my own business are really unappealing to me. When I was told about CRNA, it seemed like a good fit especially because you still get to work with women in labor but you have consistency and a life outside of work.

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