OB Clinicals

I'm half way through my L&D clinical and our instructor has been with us on all of our assessments. I was caring for a c-section mom today and I was left alone to do basics - vitals, lung and bowel sounds, peripheral pulses, etc. My instructor was with me when assessing fundus, discharge, etc. She also stays with us or close by when we are bathing or working with the newborns - all newborn assessments are confirmed by our instructor or by the unit nurses.

While we are encouraged to get in there and do as much as we can - we were also told that a lot of this clinical will be observational. It just depends on what's going on that day and what kind of mood the nurses and/or mom's are in!

We didn't do lady partsl exams. The only things we really did were foleys, iv's, and basic care. We did a lot of observing that day. lol It was my favorite rotation so far though!

I appreciate your responses; I'm really anxious about it and I don't want to do it after school. I was very assertive in my other clinicals but this one; not feeling that way! I hope mine turns out to be observational mostly too. Thanks again! A.:nuke:

I have been an OB nurse for 15 years and I am an instructor. Students can to head to toe assessments never lady partsl exams.

I had a student assess me prior to D/C after giving birth...so it does happen! :nuke:

Ours were mostly observational, and of course we could do Foleys, IVs, pass meds, etc. RNs don't even typically do vag exams at the hospital I'm at, there are too many residents that need the experience. I'm not sure about the girl who preceptored in L&D, I'm sure she went much more in depth than we did in our short rotation - but that was her choice. I would imagine that even if you're allowed, you would have to be assertive to get the chance.

Mine was observational for the most part...no cervix exams required of us. I do remember the trepidation, though! Good luck!

we don't do cervical exams in our program but I know that other programs do. I kind of wish we did just so I could actually see the changes the cervix goes through to better understand things.

I just got out of my OB rotation and we did a full head to toe assessment (by ourselves). However, if it was a procedure (foley, iv, etc) we had to have either a nurse or our teacher with us. Several students did vag exams with a nurse with them. This was not one of the skills we were taught so it was optional - if we wanted the experience or not.

That's great! I hope we have that option when I start clinicals...I would really like to specialize in L/D (eventually) when I go back for RN - so any experience would be wonderful.

We just finished our OB rotation and were not allowed to do lady partsl exams...much to my relief. We mainly did assessments of moms and newborns since the OB department at our local hospital is not very busy. I only saw 1 lady partsl delivery and 1 c-section during the 6 week rotation.

I have no desire to be an OB nurse, so I'm just glad to be done.

thanks for the input, everyone; its interesting how schools do it so differently. I am not panicking anymore but I will attempt to avoid that exam; from what I'm learning, in our text, it could be dangerous if you're not "a skilled practitioner" ......maybe the same could be said for a foley though or IV.....so hopefully it will be uneventful and a memory soon.....!!!!!!!!!