Nurses in OB/GYN

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Sep 9, 2009

Moved to Ob/Gyn Nursing forum. :)

I promise you there are tons and tons of threads in this forum that address the questions you asked.

I work in mother/baby, newborn nursery, and antepartum. My average night consists of discharge teaching, helping new parents with breastfeeding and newborn care, admitting/bathing/assessing new babies, running NSTs on my stable antepartums, and dealing with whatever unforeseen circumstances that arise. That's just a real quick & dirty summary of what I do in a 12 hour night.

I work weekend option - Friday and Saturday night every weekend and am off the rest of the week. It's not a bad deal but there are drawbacks. I don't accrue PDOs at the same rate as FT people even though I'm considered FT, we have a limit on how many shift we can take off every year even if we have PDOs to take more, we miss everything that happens in our family life on the weekends. But for working 24 hours a week and being able to pay my family's bills, it's not a bad deal. Schedule can vary from place to place and within the unit, even.

Pay is going to be highly individualized. RNs in different parts of the country make different wages, partly because cost of living varies. Starting as a new grad, you're going to be making the same amount of money as every other new grad in that facility, which should be competitive with other facilities in the area. Some places offer a differential for a BSN degree, others do not. I do make shift and weekend differential as well. At my place it's $4/hr for 3-11, $6/hr for 11-7, 1.5x base pay for weekends 7a-7p, and 1.67x base pay for weekend nights 7p-7a. But that is different for each facility.

Hope this helps some...but I promise you, if you search these threads, there will be a ton of answers for you. Plus, I'm sure some of our other awesome Ob/Gyn folks will come along and answer you too. :) Welcome aboard.

gladconnie · Sep 9, 2009

Hi, If becoming a midwife is your dream, I suggest that you start working labor and delivery. Before your interview read and study the following books: a good OB textbook, EFM, and NRP. These are your basics. Working med/surg is a good place to work also if you can't get a L&D job right away. I worked med/surg and PACU for 11 years before I transferred to L&D and I still use those skills on a daily basis. (10 years now L&D RN)

I work 12 hour day shifts and get all the work I want. I circulate in the OR for c-sections and PACU to recovery mom and baby. I am OB, NRP and ACLS certified. Enjoy your journey.