RaziRN

Thank you! I'm not even going to try to speculate as to how it went because I'm apparently a terrible judge of that. I did get to see my old preceptor and she remembered me! Everyone was so nice and welcoming. The NM remembered me from my preceptorship as well. Unfortunately, it will be two weeks before I hear anything as she still has people left to interview. Something that's been bugging me though is that I overheard her with the interviewee before me and she had that interviewee sign a release for a background check but didn't have me do the same thing. Is this because I used to work at the institution and they already have a background check on me or is it because she has no intention of hiring me?

Thank you for the advice and understanding ladies. Interview is tomorrow, let's do this! (Trying to be positive here.) :)

I worked with several filipino nurses and two of them precepted me. They were great! And I loved trying all the filipino food they brought in! :)

Um, I don't understand how it is I seem so desperate. I can't stop doing something if I don't know what I'm doing wrong in the first place. I have no personal experience in OB. I have no children. This is the unit where I did my 120 hr preceptorship in nursing school. This lady already knows me and refused to hire me right out of nursing school. Though they did hire another new grad who didn't even end up graduating. I have o idea what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I'm too restrained during interviews. I'm a very shy person but have no problem interacting with patients. I just don't know...

So, I have another OB interview on Friday at my old hospital and I've been brainstorming my strengths, weaknesses, etc. and was wondering if some of you could look them over and tell me which ones should be my top 3? This is my last shot guys, if I don't get this job I'm leaving nursing. Strengths: -I am detail-oriented which allows me to catch possible problems during my assessments which others may miss and allows me to chart thoroughly and concisely. -I am very eager to learn about all things OB. -I enjoy the pt. teaching aspect of OB nursing, especially teaching new families about newborn care. -I am able to remain calm and collected during emergent situations in order to get my patients the care they need. -I possess good communication skills and am usually able to connect with my patients on their level. -I genuinely care for my patients. -I am able to work well as a member of a team. - I am willing to ask questions when unsure about something. - I am very passionate about OB nursing and it fascinates me. Weaknesses: -I have no prior OB experience except a 120 hour preceptorship completed during nursing school but I'm enthusiastic about OB nursing and eager to learn and willing to ask questions. -Being detail-oriented slows me down at times, usually in my charting. -I am still working on my time management skills but have made improvements. Why OB Nursing? -OB nursing fasinates me, I enjoy learning about all aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, neonates and the postpartum period. It is my passion. Questions to ask Interviewer: -What is your C-section rate? -" " breastfeeding rate? -" " nurse to pt. ratio? -" " orientation timetable? -" " nurse turnover rate? -What do your nurses like and dislike about their jobs? -What is your timetable for getting required certifications such as ACLS and NRP? Does this stuff sound "weak" to you guys? If any of you are nurse managers I would especially appreciate your insight. Thanks in advance for any pointers or advice. :)

I just got the dreaded rejection email...

*Sigh* Things aren't looking too bright right now. I e-mailed the NM some questions I thought of over the weekend like she asked me to if I thought of any, and I haven't received a reply. I figure if she was gonna hire me she would be willing to answer my questions and if she wasn't going to hire me she might just ignore them. This really makes me feel like a giant failure seeing as how there were 3-4 positions open. I must of really bombed things somehow.

So, I had my interview today. The only question the NM asked me was why OB? And I told her it was my passion and how I've always had a fascination with all things OB. She then went on to explain scheduling, staffing and orientation in depth. From what she told me, she seems like a great manager to work for and seems to have an easy-going personality. I asked what staff turn-over was. She said it's been high lately but mostly because of people relocating with their spouses or having kids and wanting to stay at home. She told me that since I've worked as a nurse that my orientation will be 4 weeks in PP and 4 weeks in nursery with one day spent with the lactation consultant. She gave me a detailed tour of the unit. There are 16 PP beds, 14 well baby nursery beds, 6 L&D beds, two obs rooms and like 4 or 6 triage rooms. The NICU is level 3A and has 16 beds. The lady in HR said they would be checking my references and that they would probably call me back in 2-3 days. Wish me luck! In other related news, my NM from my old job called and said that they have 3 positions opening up in OB and that if it doesn't work out at this new hospital that I'm always welcome to come back there and try for an OB position. At least I have some options whereas this time last week it didn't seem like I had any.

So, what are the differences between the levels? This hospital has a NICU so I'm assuming the support is definitely there if something goes wrong. I respect OB, I've seen first hand things that go terribly wrong. In my final semester of nursing school I did a preceptorship in OB and we had a 23 weeker born in a hospital not at all equipped to deal with that baby. The baby should have been shipped to one of the areas larger hospitals but there was a lot of hemming and hawing on both sides and the baby was born before any action was taken. It was a very stressful day for the whole unit. There was also a lady there to birth her stillborn baby so it was definitely just a bad day all around for everyone.

You guys that are saying that OB is super stressful are scaring me. I've never been in an OB unit that seemed to be near the amount of stress in med/surg. There seems to actually be down time on these units. Now, the L&D nurses seem stressed but I'll be starting out postpartum, nursery, antepartum. But hey, I don't know what it's *really* like I'm sure. Also, If I'm not experienced in OB how am I supposed to know what to do in different OB situations? If a pt. were hemmorhaging I know I need to get in touch with MD and that they need pit. Monitor V/S, especially BP and HR? Am I on the right track at all? Now I can tell you exactly what to do if a pt. is having chest pain or an actual MI... I bought a nice blouse and black slacks today with some dress ankle boots and I have a business jacket that I'm going to wear. What have I gotten myself into?

I plan to tell them that I quit to follow my passion in nursing which is OB. It's the truth as well as is the whole stress thing. I'm hoping I can deal with the stress in OB because I actually like OB. Thanks for the advice!

Hi, I just recently (this week) quit my med/surg job because it was causing me ridiculous amounts of stress and I was depressed to the point of suicidal ideation. I have 14 months med/surg experience. Very fortunately, I got a call today to interview for a position in OB (my dream position and the entire reason I went into nursing in the first place.) I have not interviewed in a long time and I never felt interviewing was my strong point. I'm hoping that my passion for OB nursing will shine through. Does anyone have any tips/suggestions for an OB interview? I would really appreciate any advice you may have because I'm feeling pretty clueless at this point. Thanks in advance!

I just don't understand this association that people with tats or piercings are automatically unclean and unkempt. I have one unusual piercing and I make no effort to either show it off or hide it. I go to work in full make up etc. and work nights too. I work hard and maintain a professional demeanor. Most people don't notice my piercing and I've never gotten a negative comment on it. Baby lady, my point was that you said lawyers, politicians etc. don't have these things. Well, they do but anyone in that position would of course have the brains to know to keep them non-visible. The lawyer is a she BTW and I'm also from the south. I just don't understand this judgemental attitude.

Really? ^^^^^ I know a lawyer who is very heavily tattooed and pierced including microdermals which are implanted into the skin. They just don't happen to be visible piercings or tattoos.

13 months and counting in med-surg/tele/stepdown type unit. I really want OB.

Forgive me if I sound like an idiot. I just woke up. Anyway, of course the pt. was on tele. My floor is a catch all. It's a small hospital and we are the neuro unit, renal unit, step down unit and cardiac unit, etc. This was not A-fib or A-flutter. The tele tech was just calling it a Sinus tach which is what it looked like to me on the monitor. The pt.'s other VSS. I agree this pt. should be a DNR if they're not going to be in the ICU. But as you can see the pt. has a trach and a PEG and family has not made the pt. a DNR which leads me to believe they're reluctant to. But the pt is A+O x 2 at least. The house supervisor is a part of the RRT and is required to have critical care experience so she and an ICU nurse were present and pushed the adenosine. Charge nurse was also present as I had never done this before and I was just there to get primary fluids started and to prepare 20 ml NS for the house sup. and to learn of course. Thanks for all the replies. Some of them are going over my head right now...possibly because I just woke up or because I'm not a specifically cardiac nurse...

I have a question. I have one year of experience in med/surg( woo hoo!) and the other PM I had a pt. who was s/p MI from the night before who became tachycardic. He was maintaining a HR anywhere from 130's to 150's and c/o palpitations. Now this pt. is a hot mess to begin with...trach, PEG tube, all sorts of nasties in his sputum and now he's had an MI during this hospitalization for other issues. The pt. had become tachy the night before and Adenosine was pushed by the house supervisor with ICU nurses present and of course the pt. attached to the code cart. I paged the MD and he ordered the same thing again. So we pushed the Adenosine and his rhythm immediately changed to SR, no pause whatsoever. First off, it is my belief that this pt. should have been in the ICU but apparently the MDs ratianale is that he wanted to tx the MI medically with Plavix and ASA. But he was continually having these tachy episodes. But that's another topic. My question is: why Adenosine? I've had tachy pts. before and I was ordered to push cardizem and that brought them back to SR. So, is there something I'm missing here? Why would the MD choose a drug that we are not allowed to push on the M/S floor and have to pull resources from the ICU to administer?

Um, I agree with the OP. She/he is not talking about a kid coming on here and buying the candy in a pill bottle but a kid seeing mommy or daddy eating candy out of a pill bottle and then trying that themselves but it not being candy but actual medicine. I remember in peds learning to never tell kids that pills are candy to get them to take them. I wasn't concerned enough to write and complain but in general, I think it's a bad idea. These bottles with candy in them are made to look like prescription bottles of pills. But it's nothing to get your panties/boxers in a wad over! Take a chill pill allnurses and have a Merry Christmas!

ECU, because it requires less pre-req classes and because I hope to be a midwife one day and ECU is the only school in North Carolina where you can obtain a midwifery degree.

Oh, great post! I am currently looking into these two schools as well to obtain my BSN.

Hm, at my hospital we don't give Metformin for 48 hours after CT with contrast.

Unfortunately, I work with a lot of demented patients and only really get to learn anything about them when they die. I always read my patient's obituararies. I like to learn about who they really were. We recently had one of our frequent flyers to die and I read his obituary. He led such a rich life and had stormed Omaha beach. This especially touched me because I have been to Omaha beach in my travels and seen all the pristine white graves in Normandy. It was a profound moment for me much like the moment the doctor had when he also realized what great people this generation was/is. Thanks for sharing!

I'm in the same boat as the above poster. Next week I will have been working for a year and I've been contemplating leaving nursing.

Bonus? What bonus? We don't even get a gift or anything...

I wipe my stethoscope down with our all purpose "kills everything" caustic surface wipes before leaving work. I also wash my hands right before clocking out. When I get home I remove my shoes and leave them on the porch (my dad who has OCD actually sprays my work shoes with clorox daily). I then strip in my bedroom leaving my scrubs on the floor and I wash my hair and shower. There is no way I would come home and not shower before getting in bed. I get coughed on, sneezed on and deal with all manner of body fluids. I get blood, feces, NG tube drainage, lactulose poo, C-diff, MRSA on me all the time I'm sure and don't even realize it. That's my immune system in the corner eyeing you to see if you need to attacked and taken down!