nurse2Bdec08

Hi OB nurses and everyone else - I'm a student graduating in December... My desire has always been to go into OB nursing (as in labor and delivery). I've been a birth doula for 2 years, and had an amazing time in our pp clinicals last spring. Discussing current issues and aspects of maternity care gets me excited! I'm currently doing a nursing internship this summer in oncology/med-surg (which is seeming perfect so far to round out my education in general!). Over the last couple months, between clinicals and a alternative experience day in my internship, i've gotten to spend a couple days in the NICU. I was absolutely enchanted... got me to thinking that maybe my whole fascination with labor and delivery is about the baby! I am feeling so torn right now between my two loves in nursing. I love the hospital I'm interning at and want to stay there. However, they don't hire new grads into L and D. I'm wondering if maybe I should try to start in the NICU (they take new grads) in order to gain some time and experience. I could then choose to transfer to OB, or if I wanted to, I could stay in the NICU forever! So my question is - is NICU experience any good if you end up transferring to L and D? Would it be way smarter for me to start in the PP unit? I just kind of want to give NICU nursing a chance.... What do I like about L and D? The action, the autonomy, the changes going on in maternity care, getting to be one of the first people on earth to see a brand new baby! I'm a high achiever in school and I love that this field would be a total challenge for me. What I'm worried about is that I would miss being able to form relationships with patients, that I would get exhausted by the physical demands, that I wouldn't be doing as much baby care as I'd like.... What I like about NICU is getting to spend so much time with babies - honestly I love giving bottles, changing diapers and all those little things. I'm the oldest of 7 and the happiest years of my life where when my siblings were babies. I like the acuity that I'd need to deal with, the details I'd have to know... I like that I'd have the chance to build relationships with families when their baby stays a long time in the NICU. I like that I'd be doing lots of education with parents and helping them get involved in their baby's care. I'm afraid that it would eventually get boring - that there wouldn't be enough action...that it would be difficult to have babies that couldn't be handled much....that I wouldn't be getting good experience if I ended up transferring to OB. What do you think? sorry this was sooooo long!

Hi everyone, This is my first post! I've been reading the forums for awhile but finally signed up. I'm starting a nursing internship in oncology in a week (!!!) and am trying to review some things that would be helpful. I've only had a VERY brief covering of oncology in lecture and we don't cover it in clinicals. I'm looking for meds and lab tests that I should be familiar with and I'm pretty overwhelmed by the volume of cancer drugs out there!! Can you give me a list of some of the most commonly used meds with these patients? Also, I'd love to have a list of labs to be familiar with. Thanks SO much!!! Any tips would be greatly appreciated......:) - nurse2Bdec08