Nervous_Nellie

Are you going for your CLC (Certified Lactation Consultant)? If so, I thought that it was necessary to attend a seminar and then take the exam. At least around here (in Ohio), that's what they do. I wasn't aware of any need for clinical hours to do so. At a local level three hospital, an AWESOME lac consultant is an LPN, and I'm certain she has not had any OB experience prior. I am not a LC (I'm a fan of breastfeeding, but simply lack the patience, LOL), but those who have attended those seminars have left with a wealth of information. It's kinda pricey, but really worth it if it's something you really want to do. Good luck!!

We are a rural hospital, and perform about 900 deliveries a year. There was a tremendous debate for years about us circulating sections, and it finally came to fruition about two years ago. The staff's concerns was, of course, staffing, and us running short during a section if the unit was busy. What they decided upon (and it's worked really well, so far), was that we circulate all of the off-shift sections, if we feel safe doing so. As you know, sometimes L&D can be soooo busy, you just can't spare someone for an hour. All of our charge nurses, as well as any new hires or position changes (changes in hours, shifts, etc...) learned to circulate. Our staffing model calls for one extra nurse on these off-shift hours, ideally without an assignment, to be able to circulate if the need arises. If the charge feels they are unable to safely circulate, then OR is always our back-up. Training was short and sweet. We spent a day in OR with a circulator to see how things went, shadowed for several c/s, and then had a class to learn the documentation...it's a totally different computer system than we use. Then, when each person felt comfortable, the OR person observed, and we were done. It's really worked out well...I just can't understand how this is financially gainful when you have an extra RN 16 hours a day with supposedly no assignment. It would make soooo much more sense to pay the on-call OR person. However, we do get to do our c/s so much quicker, and everyone from OR's feathers don't get ruffled coming in at 0300 . How we do the c/s--The charge (or designee) circulates, optimally we don't want the labor nurse to circulate. How we've found it works best is for the labor nuse to catch baby, and then recover. Good luck!