New Nurse OB/GYN

[Aquinas]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new graduate nurse and was lucky enough to get a job in a beautiful and high tech OB/GYN office right out of school.. I love it but I need some advice. I feel so stupid... I did very well in school but it is an entire different situation when you are working in an office... I am starting to doubt myself, I feel like I dont belong when I am at work.. almost akward. I cant explain it lol.

I want to do well at work, I want to eventually become a midwife.. I do not want to give up on myself but I feel extremely overwhelmed and need some advice.

Anyone have a list of common meds used? Terminology?

Thanks :)

[blondielocks]

I am not a nurse, nor am I even in NS yet, but have you tried looking at amazon.com to see if they have any books on nursing in an OB/GYN office? They seem to have books for everything nowadays.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

The association of women's health, obstetric and neonatal nurses might be a good organization for you to consider joining

http://www.awhonn.org/awhonn

[MichelleB34]

It is normal to feel uncomfortable when you first graduate. I always tell my orientees it takes at least 6-12 months to feel a certain level of comfort in your new role. Don't be too hard on yourself. Is there another nurse you work with that can mentor or precept you? How are your midwifes to work with? Our midwifes are wonderful to work with. They are always willing to teach and answer questions. Most if not all of our midwifes have worked as nurses before. Also two of our doctors have a computerized charting system that is used for every office visit. When a patient is close to delivery the ACOG is sent to our unit. There is a lot of information about the patients in the ACOG. I have learned a lot about routine prenatal care by reading the ACOG's. The most common meds our patients take are prenatal vitamins and iron. I hope this helps.

[deege58]

Congratulations on your first job! You received some good advice from the other posters, so i just have a question: why, with the goal of midwifery, do you choose to work in an office? Most hospitals that I have worked in over the last few years, hire GN's right into OB. I would think that is a better direction with your stated goal. In the old days you couldnt even get into a midwifery program without 2,000 hours l and d experience...pretty sure that has changed...i have been working l and d 20 years, and if you want it, it's out there..take care..

[seemerun]

I'm sure you are doing fine. I have found office settings to be extremely difficult to work in. The dynamic is just different and I always felt like a fish out of water.

[RNBelle]

You gotta give yourself atleast 6 months before you even start to feel comfortable in your job - regardless of where you work. Now with the goal of being a midwife you might want to try and work PRN at a L&D unit atleast. Nothing like figuring out if you want to be a midwife when there is no doctor and you gotta catch the baby yourself. Always gets the blood going. And if you work at a place like I work the doctors only show up for the deliveries and you get lots of hands on experience.