hippienurse

There is no way it is safe to have a pt pushing on her own. At our hospital we are always at a 1:1 ratio unless they are very early cervical ripening inductions!!! Everything else we watch one on one. I can see possible taking 2 if needed, depending on where they were in their labor, but 2nd stage? NO WAY! That is just WRONG. You are putting your license on the line by doing it. I would refuse to do it and go up the chain of command as this is a major safety risk for your patients.

When I got my job I was taking my chronic pain meds, and had PRN xanax for anxiety. I was no longer taking the xanax except for rare cases (maybe once in 6 months?) but told them anyway. I had a doctors note stating I had been on my maintenance pain meds for such and such a time and was fine to work. People on chronic pain meds do not get a "high" from them. They take away the pain. They were fine with that. You can take your pain meds and work as a nurse. As long as you tell them the truth and have a letter from your doc bcking you up. I am sure some places give grief about it, but being upfront is the best idea. It will look bad if later on down the road they find out and you never told them to begin with... Good lucK!

I just wonder why they didn't fire me day one, yannow? I would be happy to go back to work with my co-workers. They know ME and they know this doesn't define me. Some of them aren't so nice but alot are and I look forward to earning their trust back.

Thanks everyone. I know recovery is #1. My post was more centered on whether anyone had any experience with the facility not firing the person right after admission to diversion, letting them be on leave and get treatment and get into monitoring. And THEN firing them after all of that. After paying me bennies that whole time, etc. Just wondering anyones thoughts on that.

On June 25th I was taken out of work by my manager. I was told there was a "red flag" about narcotic pulls, etc. I caved immediately and admitted I had diverted and wanted help. I am a chronic pain sufferer, on pain meds and had been very stressed out--which made it all worse. It happened over a 2 month time period. It took them three weeks (thru getting management together to meet, to getting my test results back, etc) to tell me I still had my job was being put on personal leave and that I needed to seek treatment. They gave me FMLA and disability paperwork. I was SO grateful and thought it was a miracle they let me keep my job! They told me I would have to sign a last chance agreement when I came back, and submit to random UA's, etc. I had already self-reported to the board and was going thru that process as well. Two days after this meeting my Mother died. I sought treatment at one center, their decision was "inconclusive" and they wanted me to go inpatient for 2-3 days at a cost of 3000 upfront. I had no money so I had to find another center to be assessed out. Took me a month to get into another place. Meanwhile I went to my counselor thru EAP and NA. New assessment was done and treatment started. Board investigation completed and they accepted me into their monitoring program and my license will be unrestricted in a few weeks. My counselor at treatment and doctor both believe this was situational, and that I am doing very well and have released me to go back to work on Nov. 1st. Here is the problem. When I called in to discuss with them coming back to work, getting contracts signed with the board, finding out the in's and out's of coming back to work the same person I have been working with in HR all this time said "Well, once your license is unrestricted and you are cleared to come back to work, we will do an investigation and decide what corrective action will be taken." I asked what that meant, if she meant the last chance agreement. She said no, that they would do an investigation into the "theft and diversion of the narcotics" and decide whether I would be terminated or not. After all of this time. This was today. Would they fire me after telling me what they had before, me going thru every step they asked, being cleared by the board, docs and treatment? I just don't get why they didn't tell me this upfront. Or why they would keep me on, paying my bennies and PTO if they were just going to fire me at the end of it all. Any thoughts? I am going nuts now not knowing. I am out of money, short term disability was denied because my counselor and doctor believe I am fit for work, etc. So if I don't get back to work (which I was so happy to find out would be Nov 1--and now isn't) I will be out on the street. If I had known I waas going to be fired in the beginning I could have at least had the oney to move my family back to where I have family. Now I have nothing, have spent everything, maxed out cards, needing to declare bankruptcy, etc...I feel like they should have been more upfront if this is how it would work. Is this normal course of action? Any ideas would be great.

Hmmmmm, very interesting to read what people use in their *kits*. Our PPH kit is just a med kit we are required to have in the room once in active labor. It has 800mcg of cytotec, 10mg IM pit, methergine (0.25mg I think?) It might be a good idea to have other supplies already together in a pack, like a precip pack...

There really isn't anyway to train into a specialty unit part time, at least not effectively in my opinion...you have to get alot of time and alot of patients day in and day out to get a good orientation and learn all you need to know...But that is only an opinion, there may be part time internships--altho I have never heard of it..Good Luck!

I became a nurse ONLY to be a L&D nurse. I did fine in clinicals, it is helpful to learn all aspects of nursing, but as soon as I was out of school I went directly to women's services. You don't need to be interested in other aspects of nursing, in my opinion. Just be prepared, it can be hard to go straight into a specialty like L&D as a new grad. Try and get some other experience. I had been a doula for 5 years, and was also a childbirth educator and lactation specialist. Taking classes such as NRP, fetal heart monitoring, lactation, etc can give you an edge when you go to apply for positions.. Good luck!

This is a computerized (usually) assessment tool that many hospitals use. For regular employees they use this as a tool for orientation. They test you before you begin work. If you used to work med/surg, the test they give you will be on med-surg nursing. Then after so many days they retest you, usually this one will now be unit specific. With travelers, many hospitals use this as a pass/fail. You test on the unit you are coming into and if you can't pass as "competent" then they don't hire you. You may want to ask about that. It has many different parts, and is different at dif hospitals because they can pick and choose which parts of the testing to use. The hardest part tends to be the "vignettes" They are short little videos (very old too) of a pt situation. You can only watch it once. They also give you some basic info (maybe some vitals, nurses note from the last shift, etc) You then have to give a diagnoses for what the pt has (say, in L&D it could be uterine rupture, eclampsia, etc) and then you have to say every single thing you would do, why you would do it and how you would do it. In order and also prioritize which comes first, etc. It isn't the most difficult thing in the world, but it is kinda hard because there are so many things you do out of habit and you forget when writing it all out. gotta get back to work, any more questions email me...

I just wanted to say I totally love this forum and have been *hiding out* and reading forums since I was still in nursing school. I posted a few times here and there and always got great answers. But just reading thru posts has given me a wealth of info. I am now a nurse going on my 2nd year. I have been in women's health since month three and just accepted a new job training into high risk OB at a new hospital. I am so exited! I just wanted to wish all the *wanna-be's* and new grads luck and if OB is your dream--keep at it! My last supervisor gave me some words of wisdom I will always carry with me.. "You can teach any nurse skills, but you can't teach them to be passionate about the job" Anyone can be taught fundal checks and all the in's and outs, but to truly love what you do and be passionate about it is a *skill* you can bring to the table that alot of other people may not (if this is your passion..) I have always been upfront about that to my prospective employers (altho some here urged me not to tell them I felt that this type of nursing was a "calling"..I did it anyway) Anyway, enough babbling. I will continue to lurk and read and maybe someday when my life slows down I will post again!

Where I go that is the same, the is always a second person to observe so that both are protected.

Of course you can, you take the same boards whether RN or BSN! Good luck!

Well, I am in my last quarter (I think 20-something days til graduation!) and am about to do my 6 12 hour shifts of focused preceptorship in OB. Being an OB nurse is what I have wanted, my dream, my calling and I want to do the best I can! I am so nervous that I am be too nervous/stressed and not do as well as I know I can! Any advice?

Both of my babies are Clomid/Glucophage babies. Just keep in mind Clomid is a relatively "mild" fertility treatments. There is only a small increase in the chance of twins and basically no chance in multiples beyond that... Go for it!

I count the 15 secs thing too, then wait and do another 15 seconds, until I have a full minute. I was taught on babies you always do a full minute, no exceptions. No taking 15 and just x 4.