Daysleeper9

Right or wrong, kids, we DO get the prima donna label. I've worked in Maternal/Child Health for the past 10 years, and since I work in a small hospital, floating is a fact of life. Yes, our staff has to go to Peds, med/surg and ICU, but by the same token, we get help from the other units when we are drowning. Am I entirely comfortable on other units? No. Will I continue to take a team when I am asked? Well ...yes. Usually, the other units are so grateful for any assistance that they don't mind giving me patients that are within my comfort zone. Who among us can say they don't know how to care for a diabetic, or a basic abdominal surgery patient? We do it all the time on our own units!!! By helping out in other areas, we can broaden our own knowledge base, and assure ourselves of cheerful, WILLING assistance when we need it! :)

I strongly, STRONGLY suggest that you do at least one year of med-surg before specializing in anything, L & D included. Every hospital that I have worked in has a "float" requirement. This means when the labor room is slow, you can be pulled to other (usually med-surg) units, to fill in. Nurses I have worked with who went straight into L&D are horrified when this happens to them, and they usually are not very effective in the med-surg setting. How sad. Even though my year of med-surg happened a long time ago, it taught me how to organize and prioritize my care, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything!!