BellasMommyOBRN

All you can do is apply and try! You never know. Sometimes employers looks @ no experience as a positive thing, believe it or not. They don't have to re-train you how to do things their way. Just have a good explanation as to why you haven't had work up until this point. I have a friend who I graduated with 2 years ago, and recently just landed her first job. Employers would always ask why she was out of work for so long. Good Luck!

I think most people who are capable of getting into a nursing program are very intelligent and ver capable of the work. I think the "difficulty" sets in when fatigue takes over. It gets hard to stay on your "A game" for such a long period of time. Glad you are doing well so far.

No offense taken, seriously! I wasn't trying to be rude in my reply.....sorry if you took it that way! I realize that what I may consider "difficult" is very subjective and is subject to change with each person! Just sharing my two cents and experience :)

I guess it depends on our own strengths and weaknesses that will determine what is easier vs harder but I completely disagree with above. L&D is extremely faced-paced and requires quick critical thinking during a rapidly progressing process for a woman. Although child birth is considered "natural" and you are dealing with (usually) other wise healthy patients, it requires intensive/continuous monitoring. As the RN in L&D I'm not dealing with trachs and the amount of monitors that are seen in ICU, but I am required to have SHARP assessment skills to r/o anything that could possibly be going wrong. In a single second THINGS CAN GO BAD. Not always easy for a new gard although it can be done! I'm sure ICU would be tough, but again it's with your own level of comfort. Both would present you with great opportunity. To continue with your long-term goal, you might want to consider a specialty that is more broad based. But honestly, take whatever you can get in this economy!

Congrats! It's a great feeling to do what you love!

It will be a huge learning curve but you will get it! I started at an ob/gyn office 2 months ago and am still learning how to function in the office setting. Your assessment skills you gained from the SNF will help you. The hardest part is assessing patients over the phone(telephone triaging). You don't have them right in front of you and have to rely on your knowledge of what COULD be going on. You have to be really good at knowing what to ask providers and patients. I suggest pulling out that old OB book from school and having it on hand at the office. That's what I did :) Common things that I do from day to day are: Incision checks/telephone triaging/NST/injections/OB consults. You will learn as you go and will really enjoy it I'm sure. I do!

Hi! I just started a job 2 months ago as an ob/gyn telephone triage nurse in a busy office......maybe I could help you? It is MUCH harder than I expected. And it is MUCH DIFFERENT than hospital nursing. You will get a lot of patients calling about lab/Ultrasound results,symptoms/should I see a doctor?, I think I'm in labor, postop/preop questions.......I also see a lot of s/p c/s patients for incision checks, to get their staples out/steri strips removed. You have to be good at assessing wounds in combination with symptoms. We also do OB consults which help a woman understand what is safe during pregnancy/office visit schedule/tests that will be done. As an office/clinic nurse you also are expected to call in rx's/refills into pharmacies for pts. We also fill out lab slips for pts if the provider wants a complete "RUQ panel" or wants you to check for "PIH"......... They don't always give you details either you just have to know that with PIH you need to check HCT/platelets/ALT/AST/bile acids....Things like that. It can be a lot of knowledge that your expected to know. I had previous ob/maternal experience which helped a lot. I'm not sure what your experience is in but, it's much different than hospital nursing. As far as tips......I don't really have any. A lot of the learning will be as you go with experience.

Compression stockings are good too! Especially for you OR nurses. I used to wear them at the hospital :)

It's not my first day anymore....but I did just switch jobs two months ago. Scary as heck and unbelievably challenging! Thanks for sharing this!

Where I live, ANY nursing experience will help you get a job that isn't intended for "new grads." With 9 months experience, I would apply to any jobs intended for "experience of 1 year." When I was working maternity/OB, I only had 7 months experience before looking around my home town for a job. The recruiter said that L&D generally requires a year of experience but, she said she has seen nurses have an extended orientation time until they reach a year. I didn't follow through with it d/t getting an office job with much better hours but, hey, I got a call from a recruiter with only 7 months experience. I thought having less than a year of experience before looking for new job would hurt me too but, it didn't. Moral of the story: APPLY. You are very close to a year, and are probably too experienced to be considered a new grad.

I am new to the ob/gyn office setting so its too early for me to say "what I see the most given" is.....but we still do implanon. We only have 1 provider trained to do it so I don't see it a ton (we are a huge practice with 7 providers). The majority of the pts that get it are usually unable to tolerate the combination pills. They use it as a "last resort".

I would just ignore her and move on. Don't dwell on petty BS since that can be worse than the person giving you BS.Good luck!

You may not be doing anything wrong, it may be that the competition is really high. It's hard to say without knowing what you actually say in response to questions. The best advice I can give is to tell a possible employer why you want to work for THEM. Don't ever let a potential manager know that they are a stepping stone to your "dream job". A lot of people do that and I think it only hurts them in the end. Practicing answers is really a MUST. My dad interviews applicants for the power plant that he works at and said it's more HOW they answer then what they answer. How quickly do you think on your feet? Are your answers well organized and easy to understand? Are they applicable to the question? How well do you follow the directions that you were just given? (how well did you do/say what they asked you to do?) interviews are extremely stressful. Have patience with yourself. Above all, let them know why they should choose you over the others! Good luck.

I know the suspense can kill!! I was told for my current job that I would know the decision by a week after the interview......it ended up being 3 weeks after that I finally heard that I got the job.Just hang in there!

Some hospitals allow you to start in l/d as a new grad. It's not necessary but because of the competition for those floors those spots normally go to experienced nurses.Good luck! OB is a wonderful place to be!