OB Rotations

Boognish · Jun 9, 2011

If you're not interested in OB, then you shouldn't pick that as your career. But I get the impression from comments you've made in this thread that you don't think it's important that you put any effort into learning from your OB clinical. If that's not what you meant, then I'm sorry for misinterpreting. If that IS what you meant, I'd have you consider the fact that nursing is not a hobby. Nurses need to be able to competently care for people throughout all stages of the life-cycle- I don't know how you hope to achieve that by just "going through the motions" with material that isn't interesting to you personally- but best of luck to you. I hope you're able to get more out of your OB rotation than you're expecting from it.

anonymousstudent · Jun 9, 2011

Did this thread get ugly? I'll vouch for you not being a troll. People who say that have never moderated boards and seen real trolls. JMO

I had a pretty good experience with L&D, though I knew I didn't want to be a nurse in that area before hand and it was quite clear to me by the end that I still didn't. I found it to be pretty boring. You will be able to sharpen up your assessment skills this quarter. It's also interesting to work with patients who aren't "sick." That's a fabulous dynamic to navigate.

I found this area most easy to apply text book information to practice. I'm not sure why. If you feel like you'll be bored, there are chapters upon chapters of abnormal assessment data and why things happen that shouldn't. It's important, especially for babies, because crazy, rare, life threatening things can pop up fast and you can be the one to see it first! So there's a challenge.

Otherwise, there are some basic psychomotor skills, like how to wash a neonate, that you will pick up easily. This will be a good term for you to sharpen up your ears and eyes during assessment because everything is so fast and hard to hear and see. :) I think you'll like it in the end and learn a lot. Good luck to you.

HelloNurseB · Jun 9, 2011

Our OB rotation was a lot of observation. We were normally paired up with an RN and because our instructor wasn't always with us (she would float from floor to floor), we were not allowed to give any medications or perform invasive procedures. There was one week in labor and delivery, one week on the postpartum floor, and one week in the NICU. The other days consisted of going to a specialty clinic for mothers with diabetes, a group home for teen mothers, or following a lactation consultant. The males in our clinical group were denied a few experiences because the clients did not want a male nurse let alone a male student nurse in the room. It just depends. The most interesting observational experience was sitting in on a C-section, there were many opportunities for these, but after seeing 3...I was done!

Things we were able/allowed to do were the postpartum and newborn assessments and a lot of health teachings. We also had to do a care plan for each rotation (1 newborn, 1 L&D, and 1 Postpartum).

cogath · Jun 10, 2011

We had opportunities in labor and delivery, postpartum, antepartum. I was in L&D and postpartum. We didn't spend much time in the nursery as they encourage "rooming in" with the mom, so typically isn't much to do.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jun 10, 2011

Loved it so much I did it twice.

I was virtually ignored in clinical. Which by my thinking was a good thing. The teacher knew I wasnt going to do any damage.

HazeKomp, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2011

As an example, although not OB-specific, cleaning under the crusted foreskin of a diseased member.

Please breathe a sigh of relief.... very few crusty memberes in L&D! :lol2:

HazeKomp, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2011

I was wondering what a natural birth advocate would think about doing an maternity rotation. I think I would just be irritated by suggested inductions, c-sections, and circumcisions. My biggest challenge will probably holding my tongue. :)

just so you know, many of the labor nurses you will be working with have to hold their tongues, too,

about excessive inductions, "elective" c-sections, and "un-natural" birthing!

More of us out there that you probably realize!

Boognish · Jun 12, 2011

So, since I have a cold and I didn't want to give it to any pregnant women, new moms, or infants, I spent my first two OB clinical shifts following Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists. Based on what you've said, ImThatGuy, I recommend that you try to do the same if you get the chance. You'll spend most of your time observing epidurals and c-sections, and you won't have to touch any babies. Although I'm way more excited for L&D, it was pretty interesting.