Is it a good idea to take a position as a new grad working nights in a birthing center? I just graduated and have limited nursing experience. I've never worked nights before and don't know what to expect as far as nights in a birthing unit (PP, L&D, and Nursery). I'm a night owl, so I'm not overly concerned about the hours. I'm mainly worried about less staff and less support at night and not being effective in an emergent situation. I interviewed, it went really well, and I'm in the final stages of possibly getting the position. But I'm nervous about nights. I just checked and saw a brand new posting for a day position in the same unit. Should I go back and tell them I prefer days? I know it's difficult for new grads to get day shift, but should I try? Has anyone started as a new grad in OB on nights, and if so, was it difficult, frightening, etc? (The training is also on nights).
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
Well since most babies seem to want to be born late at night or in the early morning hours, unlike most other floors, OB is usually staffed very well with support including Docs and CNMs.
Some smaller hospitals don't have a physician or midwife in-house. The on-call physician is at home, and you call them in for problems or delivery. I worked at such a hospital for four years, and it definitely can be challenging, because many docs get ***** if you call them at 2am, or misjudge when you need them in and they come in and have to sit around for an hour while the woman is pushing.
I think you would be fine on nights.........i think if you haven't sealed a job it could be risky to go in and say you would rather have days..(depends on the job market) We are very picky about who we hire for nights, and anyone that asks how long they have to be there before they can transfer to a different shift in the interview is pretty much automatically eliminated... we have been burned too many times by people that come in for a few months and then transfer as soon as they can...that our manager is very picky now..
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
We had a new grad who was hired onto nights, and somehow she got the impression that she would only be on nights for a few months. Two months into her orientation, and during her FIRST night shift, she said "Yeah, I think I can handle this for a few months" and the nurse she was talking to laughed and said "MONTHS? Try 3-4 YEARS!" She quit the following morning.
I was a new grad in 2009. The only unit I ever wanted to work on and the only reason I went to nursing school was to be a labor & delivery nurse. Nobody around here hires new grads into OB, but I managed to get the attention of a wonderful OB director who got me a job in another unit of the hospital so that she could eventually hire me into her unit. I've been in OB now for 4 months and I LOVE it. My orientation just ended and I will be going to nights in 2 weeks. My 4 month orientation was entirely days and it gave me the opportunity to see many things. The nurses/preceptors were all WONDERFUL with me. I have the same concerns about going nights as you do though: less support staff, having to call on call dr's at home rather than having them in the hospital or close by. I made sure in my scheduling that I'm on with strong, experienced nurses though so that I'll have experienced people with me. I'm still a bit nervous. I think that's natural. But the way I see it, I have to jump right in. Rarely have I ever heard of a new nurse getting a day position in an OB unit! I feel very very lucky so I read, read, read and try to know as much as possible. Good Luck!
I was a new grad in L&D in 2007 and started on nights. You'll adjust fine. IV's and SVE's are done very frequently and practice makes perfect. Most inductions are done during the night so a lot of education takes place at that time as what to expect. You'll do just fine. You won't be alone on the unit. Use your other nurses are resources a lot. L&D nurses work extremely hard so be prepared to work work!
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
we do cervidil and cytotec inductions starting between 8 and midnight at our facitility.
We do too at the facility I work at now (actually we do start all kinds of inductions at 8pm, even Pit or Foley). At the small community hospital I used to work at (the ones with no docs in house after 5pm), we only scheduled inductions for the AM or right after lunch.
It's because the physicians were not interested in coming in from home during the evening to assess the pt, do an H&P, etc.
I'm a new grad, and I'm in my second month of orientation for L&D in a very high-volume city hospital. I've had the same concerns as you about starting on nights and not having the resources that days do - if you work on nights and your patient has to go back to the OR, you scrub in - day shift has specific PACU and OR nurses, so if your patient goes back, you just become first admit. However, you should be fine as long as part of your orientation is devoted to OR, PACU, etc. If you started on days, it's not like you'd get that experience anyway...plus, night shift is so much more fun :)
I (FINALLY!!!) got two job offers. One is nights in OB (PP, L&D, Nursery rotation), 8 hr shifts (11-7:30) and this entails a 6 month full-time orientation with a staff of "mature nurses" - managers words. This is a .5 position, so 5 8-hour nights per pay period after the orientation is done.
Second offer is Med-Surg Intermediate (I was told more care but fewer patients than a typical Med-Surg floor) with cross-training and floating to the Med-Surg area when necessary. 6-12 week full-time orientation. 12 hr night shift (7p to 7:30am. This is a .6 position, so only two nights per week after orientation is done.
I'm so grateful to have two offers, but I'm completely torn and need to make up my mind TODAY. I love OB, but frankly, I'm terrified of it after reading many many posts about how stressful OB is to work in and how hard it is to learn. The long full-time orientation and steep learning curve is also going to be harder on my family than the shorter Med-surg orientation. I am freaking out and can't seem to make a decision. I loved my OB clinical and I also loved my Med-surg clinical.... so I can't really leave it up to my "passion", because I don't have a clear-cut PASSION like many other nurses do when starting out. HELP!!!!!
I find Med/Surg way more stressful and overwhelming than OB. And I can only speak of personal experience, but as a new grad I was totally taken advantage of by given way to complex patient loads for my experience level. That and its hard to be a team player when your fellow RNs are just as overworked and overwhelmed as you are.
klone, MSN, RN
14,857 Posts
Some smaller hospitals don't have a physician or midwife in-house. The on-call physician is at home, and you call them in for problems or delivery. I worked at such a hospital for four years, and it definitely can be challenging, because many docs get ***** if you call them at 2am, or misjudge when you need them in and they come in and have to sit around for an hour while the woman is pushing.