Ob-Gyn office nurse skills

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Specializes in L&D and OB-GYN office.

I've been out of nursing for 9 years to be a stay at home mom. We can no longer afford for me to stay home. I am interested in working in an office setting for an OB-Gyn. Previously I was an L&D nurse at a teaching hospital on a high risk unit. I "did it all" on the unit and was often scheduled to be the charge nurse. My nursing license is current. I would like to avoid having to take a refresher course if possible, but I will if necessary. A family friend who is an OB has previously offered me a job in his office, but I wasn't ready to go back to work then. He said to let him know when I was ready to go back to work. I don't want to go back to work unprepared. My questions are, what nursing skills do you use in an office setting? What do you find stressful? Is it less demanding than L&D? Any insight into the day of an Ob-Gyn office nurse you can give me would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Specializes in interested in NICU!!.

can you go to the ob clinic and shadow a nurse there, that way, you can ask her all the questions you have and you get to see what the day is like in that setting?

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Specializes in A little of this & a little of that.

You should have no problem in an office setting without a refresher. Basically you prep patients for exam, assist in exams - handing swabs to doctor and putting them into the culture tubes, holding out slides for smears, etc. You do the U/A by dipstick (in many offices now there are machines you just put the stick in & get a print out), fingerstick for HgB. Glucometer testing. Sometimes blood draws for labs (not in most offices. You assist with U/S. You assist with procedures like colposcopies & biopsies. Give a lot of Depo shots. A lot of patient teaching - brush up on gestational diabetes especially. You usually answer calls for last minute appointments, assess for urgency and schedule appropriately. Also talking with patients in labor & assessing where they might be at so that doc can be informed, but not constantly interrupted to talk to patients in early labor who are anxious. You may return calls after doc has looked at chart & explain orders, labs, Rx's etc to patient. It's really a pretty good job and even though your experience is a while ago, it will be invaluable in this job. I'm sure he's looking for your assessment skills and expertise to help him out. So many doctors these days are using medical assistants only, it's good to have one who respects the skills and expertise that only an experienced RN has to offer. Depending how busy the practice is, some of the mundane stuff may be done by MA's or LPN's, leaving the RN free for the assessments, procedures & patient teaching. I'd say go for it. Good Luck!

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Specializes in L&D and OB-GYN office.

Thornbird-thank you! That is exactly the type of info I am looking for. And to Chapis-your idea is a good one and I do intend to do that, but I want to be as confident as I can be before I step foot in the office, even if it is just to observe for the day. If anyone else has anymore feedback, I'd love to hear it!

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Even though I am a Medical Assistant this gave me some well informed and appreciated advice to be read and absorbed as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.

I, too, would greatly enjoy hearing from others who have worked in an OB GYN setting and can possibly more light on the situation.

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