ob/gyn or labor and delivery nurse????

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 15, 2005

You can usually enter into L and D after nursing school only IF the hospitals around you will hire and train new graduates. It would pay to check around as you enter and work your way through school to find who does.

Also, find who has internships (this is the best way to learn) into the speciality. If not, at least, try and start out in Mother-Baby or Post-partum, first, then Labor and Delivery. I have posted a long list of the things we do previously to another poster with the same question. I will try and find that thread and reprint it here for you, for your information and guidance.

Salary? You can visit http://www.salary.com for info on what nurses make by a given area/city. Most places, BSN nurses make the same money as ADN and Diploma nurses with the same years and experience. Your pay goes up by the amount of experience you have in your speciality. There is usually NO speciality pay (meaning, you will make the same as a nurse in the same hospital in say, med-surg), but SOME places do pay sign-on bonuses to start. BE sure to read any FINE PRINT when deciding whether to accept a sign-on bonus or not. They will usually require a time commitment from you at the very least----so be sure of what you are signing up to do.

Ok ------I found the list (it was ORIGINALLY posted by Z'sPlaya, another member here, and I found it rather comprehensive and good):

Know by age/group age-specific facts regarding the following (we care for people in these age groups)

Neonate

Infant

Children

Adolescent

Adult

Geriatric

OBSTERICAL NURSING

OBSTETRICAL ASSESSMENT SKILLS

Inbound facility tranfer unit

Outbound transfer to other facility

Identify fetal position (Leopold maneuvers)

Fetal heart tones

Severity of contractions

lady partsl exam, dilitation & effacement

lady partsl exam, station & presentation

lady partsl exam, culture collection

CLINICAL SKILLS

Set up tocotransducer

Intrauterine pressure catheter

Auscultate fetal heart tones

Intact/nonintact membranes

Nitrazine test

Internal fetal monitor

Interpreting normal/abnormal fetal heart patterns

Baseline interpretation

Early decelerations

Beat to beat variability

Late decelerations

Prolonged decelerations

Set up OB pack

Set up baby pack

Cord blood collection

Artificial rupture of membranes

COMPLICATIONS

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension

Antihypertensives

Clonus

Diabetes

Abruptio placenta

Placenta previa

Prolapsed cord

Preeclampsia

Eclampsia

Malpresentation

Premature rupture of the membranes

Premature labor

Magnesium sulfate

Drug dependent

RH incompatibility

Herpes

HIV

HBV

Hemorrhage

Blood transfusion

Forceps delivery

Vacuum extraction

Precipitous delivery

Starting IV's

Cesarean section-circulate

Cesarean section-scrub

Central line placement, set up & assist

Epidural, set up & assist

Spinal, set up & assist

Local, set up & assist

Foley catheter placement

Pain control, narcotic

Intrathecal medication delivery

Episiotomy, set up & assist

Uterine massage

Lochia assessment

DVT

Induction of labor

Cytotec

Prostaglandin supp

Oxytocin infusion

PATIENT TEACHING

Relaxation/breathing techniques

Premature labor prevention

Phone triage

Breast feeding

CPR for neonates

see this site for where this list came from:

http://www.prntravelnurse.com/labor-delivery-nursery.html

It's an orientation checklist for traveling nurses being set up to work in a particular hospital.

Good luck and I sure hope this helped you some. Welcome to the OB/GYN forums.

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 15, 2005

Some of the above may make no sense to you as a student, but later, as you accomplish your maternal-newborn rotation, these thing will become clearer to you. Good luck and ask if there is anything else I can help you with.

armednblonde14 · Jul 27, 2005

Some of the above may make no sense to you as a student, but later, as you accomplish your maternal-newborn rotation, these thing will become clearer to you. Good luck and ask if there is anything else I can help you with.

thank you very much that does help a lot~!!!!

muffin21 · Jul 27, 2005

okay.... i am starting college this year to get my BSN, but i have always loved to work with children and i am wondering what it takes to become a labor and delivery nurse. what do they do? how much money do they make? How many years of school does this usually take?? i would LOVE to help in delivering babies and this is my life long dream!!! please leave more info for me so i can make my decision!!! thank you very much!!!

I have the same passion!!! :) :) :) Thanks for bringing it up!!!!

BETSRN · Jul 27, 2005

okay.... i am starting college this year to get my BSN, but i have always loved to work with children and i am wondering what it takes to become a labor and delivery nurse. what do they do? how much money do they make? How many years of school does this usually take?? i would LOVE to help in delivering babies and this is my life long dream!!! please leave more info for me so i can make my decision!!! thank you very much!!!

You need your license no matter what typr of nursing you ultimately choose. Get your degree, sample all the specialties and then choose.