Ob Nursing Question

[MarAshJoe]

This fall I will be in my 3rd semester as a pre-nursing student for an RN. The way I am leaning is towards delivery nurse. I was told by this girl yesterday that you have to have another degree (other than your RN liscense) in order to work in the labor unit (note: I'm not doing NICU.) I was wondering if that was true because at school they don't ask us what unit we are specializing in. When declaring the unit do I refer to it as Ob-nurse.. Maternity nurse.. delivery nurse.. etc ??

[fergus51]

You don't need extra schooling. Many places will pay for you to take extra courses as a part of your orientation, but they are not required. You can call that nurse any of the above. I usually said I was a labor and delivery nurse, or just a nurse unless someone asked for elaboration.

[USA987, MSN, RN, NP]

As Fergus said, no special degree is needed. We refer to nurses who only work postpartum as Maternity nurses...L&D nurses work L&D & sometimes postpartum if they are short handed.

Good luck!

[KRVRN, BSN, RN]

Maybe your classmate was mistakenly thinking of a nurse midwife. That takes additional schooling after an RN degree.

[donmomofnine]

As soon as I graduated, I started as a labor and delivery nurse. It was rather unusual, but I got a foot in the door by working in maternity as a unit secretary while I was in nursing school.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I started OB right out school year, on a lark. Manager saw my app for the float pool and called me, hoping I was interested in OB. Little did she know, it was my DREAM job. And still is. Good luck to you.

[December716]

Right now, OB is my dream nursing job too. My aunt is an OB nurse and I've always loved what she does. I'm volunteering in an OB unit right now, so hopefully that'll help with getting my foot in the door when I graduate.

[profjanmc]

Good luck to all you potential labor nurses! We welcome you!