is labor and delivery and OB really a specialty?

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

i worked a different floor the other night and found it interesting that the nurses I worked with thought L&D/OB was not a specialty area at all. they said all we do is hold babies and play nurse. Now I beg to differ but i think it is a specialty area . How about you? have you ever had other nurses tell you something similar to that?

uh, you'll notice that here on allnurses.com that Labor & Delivery/OB nursing is NOT considered a Critical Care unit....whereas, Neonatal Nursing is!

(sorry for grumbling...but I'm pretty adamant that L&D is very, very much a critical care area! ANYTHING can go wrong at ANY time....and often does! Critical thinking skills are essential to being a good L&D RN!)

at least, thank goodness, the L&D staff get an "ICU salary differential"!

Haze

0 Votes

At our hospital L&D is NOT a specialty, the administrator told us at a staff meeting that he could not call it a specialty area, because all nursing areas were specialty areas. Why is it then that I can float to med-surg and be expected to take a team of 6 pts, do admits, etc but the med surg nurses are not expected to be given a laboring pt?? If we even could get one to float, the don has stripped staffing to a minimum or below there. It takes all kinds of nurses to provide pt care in the different areas of nursing, but it would be nice to be recognized and get specialty pay. And yes, I too have heard how nice it is to sit and rock babies all night, and I totally agree with mother/baby/rn. If its so great, why do we still have openings??

0 Votes

Dear Mark: Welcome to L/D--it is great that a male is providing care in our very special area of nursing. I would love to get your views on initiating breastfeeding. Oh, breastfeeding requires holding babies--tough for some to view this as an important part of nursing.

Yours in lactation,

Debbie

0 Votes
Originally posted by HazeK

uh, you'll notice that here on allnurses.com that Labor & Delivery/OB nursing is NOT considered a Critical Care unit....whereas, Neonatal Nursing is!

(sorry for grumbling...but I'm pretty adamant that L&D is very, very much a critical care area! ANYTHING can go wrong at ANY time....and often does! Critical thinking skills are essential to being a good L&D RN!)

at least, thank goodness, the L&D staff get an "ICU salary differential"!

Haze

I think that it depends where you work. Yes, I agree that critical thinking skills are most definitely a major necessity in an L&D nurse. But as far as being considered a "critical care" area...At most of the hospitals I've worked at, we send our "critical" patients to ICU (those that are resp or circulatory unstable). I don't know how to work a vent or manage an art line anymore. I certainly wouldn't call myself a critical care RN, because I am not comfortable with the more advanced monitoring done on the typical ICU.

In other hospitals, L&D actually keeps OB patients on vents and with art lines, etc. Then, you are a critical care RN, if you are trained to take care of them.

Neonatal Nurses (unless specified as only level 1 trained), however, are considered ICU nurses, because they are trained on all of that ICU equipment.

I think of myself more comparable to an ER nurse, working in L&D...except that I might care for my patients longer and more intensively than they typically do. :-)

0 Votes
Originally posted by LCDEBBIE

Dear Mark: Welcome to L/D--it is great that a male is providing care in our very special area of nursing. I would love to get your views on initiating breastfeeding. Oh, breastfeeding requires holding babies--tough for some to view this as an important part of nursing.

Yours in lactation,

Debbie

thanks for the welcome debbie.:)

it may be tough for some to view , but breastfeeding is an important part of nursing care.ispend a lot of time with new moms helping them breast feed and learn proper breast care, usually try to get them to nurse with in one hour of delivery.

I love my job can't you tell :)

hope every one does

0 Votes
Originally posted by LCDEBBIE

Dear Mark: Welcome to L/D--it is great that a male is providing care in our very special area of nursing. I would love to get your views on initiating breastfeeding. Oh, breastfeeding requires holding babies--tough for some to view this as an important part of nursing.

Yours in lactation,

Debbie

thanks for the welcome debbie.:)

it may be tough for some to view , but breastfeeding is an important part of nursing care.ispend a lot of time with new moms helping them breast feed and learn proper breast care, usually try to get them to nurse with in one hour of delivery.

I love my job can't you tell :)

hope every one does

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment