Alikatz

We have our own ORs on our L&D unit, as well as a recovery area right across from them. Not all of the nurses on my unit have ACLS (only some of us do, including myself), but all required to have at least BLS and NRP. We have 24 hour OB and OB anesthesia. We also have a 3 lead cardiac monitor. We also recover our own general and regional sections. If there is a patient who would like to go to our facility to deliver though and they have known cardiac problems, the hospital will send them to our partnering hospital who is larger/takes even higher risk patients and equipped for that type of monitoring/complications.

I'm in CT and where I work we turn it off. Anesthesia takes care of anything else.

Also Betadine on 4x4s with sterile water.

We chart in the computer and also by exception.

Must depend on the facility. We have one scrub tech on days only (who sets up and hands doc the instruments and will help the nurse clean the patient up before going to recovery), so nurses on evenings and nights (the ones that are trained to scrub, which is the majority...majority of nurses on days can scrub in too) scrub in if a section is needed then. If we have a full patient load and all nurses are tied up (so that none can scrub in for a circulating nurse) then we will call for an upstairs OR scrub tech to help out (haven't had to do that often, but they're available for emergencies in case a nurse can't scrub in, etc). We have a distinction on my unit between the Scrub Tech and the regular Techs (or "aides")...like just explained. The regular floor techs only do stocking on floors and cleaning rooms after a delivery or if a triage patient goes home for L&D and some are cross trained as secretaries to help with phones and paper work of course (we are a mostly RN run unit). They do some patient care on PP though - vitals, ambulating patients, babysitting, etc. Our floor techs never attend deliveries. We have two nurses for each delivery (the patients regular nurse and a baby nurse, who of course assesses the baby directly after delivery, does foot prints, puts bands on, takes quick set of vitals, and then hands baby to mom...or sometimes not even that before leaving the rest up to the patients primary nurse).

No male RNs in Labor and Delivery, Postpartum, or the NICU where I work. About 50% of our OBs are male. We also have several male pediatric PAs who attend sections and any vag. delivery where there are/may be complications. The majority of our residents are females.

There was a patient that had her tubal ligation (cauterization) right before that certain method (something else was done too) was stopped and basically "taken off market" and ended up pregnant. Between her and her husband they had 7 at home and this would make 8, she was irate!

Our techs on Labor and Delivery never deliver babies and actually don't do patient care. They stock rooms and help clean (important none the less, but no delivering)! Techs on Postpartum help patients get to the bathroom, take vitals, and ambulated. Out scrub tech never delivers babies!

I find it wonderful that you have such enthusiasm as well! During school I took some extra certs, ACLS etc, however after doing an internship in L&D during my last year I spoke with several of the nurses and manager who told me honestly don't take NRP, EFM courses, etc before working in L & D because even though you do learn some from it, you do not apply it until you're working there for a while and gain a little experience and more understanding. My job paid for EFM and NRP, which was nice (nothing out of pocket for me as some of those courses can get expensive). As I said, I did an internship for several months during school in L&D and also NICU for several months, so those helped big time on my resume compared to other applicants who might not have done that. I think that the fact that you also did something similar will boost your chances!! I didn't listen to those who told me to go and work in Med-Surg or another type of nursing before going into a specialty either. While it's nice to have some experience going in from another specialty and having those time management/assessment skills, it's still quite a different specialty. I went in as a fresh new grad and have had no problems at all (learned everything very quickly) and we all work was as a team on my unit. I remember my L&D manager stating that she liked to pick fresh grads when they had spots for them because they could train us from scratch, rather than someone experienced in another field of nursing (not OB) that may have some habits, etc. Of course recently we've hired a few experienced high risk L&D nurses on our night shift, which is awesome because everyone learns something different from each other !! Keep applying to as many hospitals as you can and keep your options open to moving (as someone else mentioned...if you can that is) and keep in contact with HR or the L&D manager!! Good luck!

When I got hired last year everything was sped up to make the process go very quickly before orientation, so I'm sure they could do the same for you!

That is exactly what the residents/attendings do at my facility.

Where I work the circulator (nurse who was assigned the pt) puts the foley in (which we do after anesthesia...unless of course the patient has one alreadyh in or it's an emergency) and she will recover the patient. We have one nurse who comes in to be baby nurse. Day shift has a scrub tech and evenings and nights does not (so of course in that case there will be either 3 RNs in there or if there isn't a 3rd to do baby then nursery would come). There have been at times where we're short and have to call the OR for a scrub tech for an evening or night section. It would be nice and in my opinion safer if we could have a scrub tech on all shifts that way it frees up an RN in case the floor has an emergency or a sudden influx of patients coming in (especially if they're active and definitely being admitted).

I have seen one so far. Everyone was so fascinated by it of course. It was a uneventful lady partsl delivery with no complications. Baby had a nice strip!!

Not to mention anyone could "catch" a baby if they absolutely had to, but what about during complications...lets say a shoulder dystocia..I guess they would be preparred for that and could easily handle it....mmmmhmmm

I also think it's farely useless to take the NRP and certain certifications before working on the unit and gaining some sort of experience. We didn't take it until 3 months in.