hexoptic

Give yourself a break. I agree with all the first poster said. Anyone who's worked on OB has felt this way and spent nights lying awake worrying about this or that, it's incredibly stressful. It would be ideal if you found someone you worked with who you could talk to. My first year in OB my buddy and I worked together (both new) and consoled each other over patient fears, physician rants and unexpected outcomes. We were never in crisis at the same time (fortunately) and spent time talking each other out of quitting. You had coworkers double check that's great and the best thing to do when you feel unsure. After 30 years I call in my coworkers when things aren't adding up. OB should always be a team effort. You sound like you might be dealing with depression. If this feeling of not enjoying anything continues please see someone about it. Depression can steal the melody of life and often is hard to see when in it's grasp. I'm praying things get better for you soon.

Just give yourself permission to do whatever you need to do for yourself and your family. I had my only child as an ignorant teenager and I greatly admire all of you young mom's working and pumping and trying so hard to do it all. What I hate is that OB is frequently very unfriendly to RN mom's, when you don't get the time to pee how do you get the time to pump? If you are not a night person I can see where nights make it all the harder. Praying you find a perfect fit. These days with your little one are precious beyond compare.

I worked several years in outpatient OB/GYN. If you like teaching patients you will do great. First learn all you can about normal GYN care and then the most common problems your clinic sees and build from there. It will come quickly and is a really rewarding area. I did a lot of work with patients with endometriosis and interstitial cystitis and issues with chronic pain. Chronic pain patients can quickly get negative labels but helping them get a diagnosis and treatment literally changes lives. I've seen people so angry, pushed from ER to ER, Dr to Dr and labeled drug seeking get proper treatment then go on to get jobs and have fulfilling lives. Listening without judgement helps, remember many of these people are expecting rejection and disappointment if they've been on the pain merry-go-round too long and may present with lots of anger. Keeping the whole thing running on time is always a balancing act but you will never be bored.

I always explain why I'm doing things, I don't make a huge deal of it if it's not much. May just say, you baby's heartbeat could look a little better (then explain what I'm seeing & what I'm doing to correct it). I will usually say, "I feel your baby is fine, at this time, if however, this changes I promise I will tell you and not keep you in the dark. They have the right to know. Some people will follow carefully what you do, others will just tell you to do what you gotta do.

I work on an OB unit with about 600 deliveries a year. We have no ward clerks, have to do all our own baby labs/IV and even are expected to empty the trash in patient rooms at night. My boss is afraid to do anything that makes her look bad to management. She likes to talk about safety but short staffs us every step of the way. In the past few years I've worked 23 hour shifts on 3 occasions. We never get breaks as we have to answer the phone/unlock the door and while we aren't supposed to end up eating at the desk (which looks horrible). The second we aren't full of patients they start sending us home or pulling us to every corner of the hospital and if they feel the need they assign us patients on other units. A few weeks ago a new med surg nurse started complaining because we won't go in dirty rooms. Our boss immediately changed our policy to include taking and caring for infectious patients while we are on other floors. She said, "Well you can always take a shower and change your scrubs when you come back to OB." I have on several occasions been pulled back to imminent deliveries where there was no time to make up a table let alone shower and change. My manager knows this but you know she's gotta be a, "team player." I've watched so many wonderful, well trained, caring OB nurses leave because of our mess of a unit. I would go to another hospital in a heartbeat but I would have to drive an hour or more plus my partner is an OB/GYN and delivers here. It's in my best interest to see our unit become sane. We have a mix of mostly new nurses, some turning out really well and some just taking up space (you know what I mean). I also worry about how some of our new nurses are thrown to the wolves, if my manager needs someone on nights she will push them through orientation. A few years back there were enough of us with experience that the new girls had someone to rely on but that's changing fast, too many of our experienced nurses have left. It's to the point that I am so stressed I can barely think of ways to fight this. I am a really good OB nurse and my patients love me and I love them what I do but the BS has become too much. Any suggestions would be great. I know I need to go over my manger's head but fear it might do little to help as we are owned by a giant corporation that seems to have lost interest in our hospital (I keep hoping we get sold). I'm thinking of transferring out of the department at least part time. Does anyone have idea where I can find guidelines to fight the dirty patient problem? I was thinking ACOG specified this but have been unable to find it. I'm also gathering staffing guidelines and would love to hear how other OB's of similar size manage to be closed units or positively deal with these problems.

As long as you have someone to lean on you will be fine. I work at a small hospital (50 deliveries a month) and we don't leave anyone totally on their own until they have been there a year. Every new nurse is terrified, just ask for advice or assistance when you feel uncertain. Give it a few months and you will be mentoring someone else.

Do yourself and any patients that might come your way and get out of nursing now. You have had 5 chances to see your mistakes and protect your license and you don't care. You say you are taking responsibility for your actions but you aren't. PLEASE don't continue to be a nurse. Find something to do for a living that doesn't have other peoples lives in your hands. We all make mistakes but real nurses are humbled and terrified by them and do everything they can to never repeat them. I cannot imagine just going along creating one train wreck after another like you are doing. It doesn't matter if you, "like," working in a nursing home, you accepted the position, patients & fellow staff rely on you. I am appalled that you are becoming a registered nurse. Again let me sum it up, GET OUT OF THE PROFESSION!!

She was spot on with what's being said behind y'all's back. If you can't take care of yourself and have a neat appearance you can't take care of patients. If some of the students dressed as poorly as described they deserve to be told about it. Nursing is different, get used to it.

A solid background in meg surg makes a better nurse, it gives you a career long base to build on. When I started out I never dreamed I'd work as a L&D nurse, never, ever, no way. That's where I am now and it is truly my dream. When you start out you really don't have the experience to know what is the perfect fit for you. Instead of thinking you were rejected, treated badly etc, etc, why not open your eyes to whatever the universe is trying to tell you? Get out there and see what happens. Some jobs suck terribly but they'll make you appreciate the good one when it come along. Good luck, it's all a big adventure.

I worked for years in my husband's OB/GYN practice. All teenagers are virgins and don't need any birth control until their mother steps from the room. It's makes me crazy. I've seen tragedy after tragedy related to HPV, it's scary stuff.

Years ago I worked in a LTC. The other RN and I were vaccinating all the staff and residents with flu vaccine, the plan was when we finished we'd vaccinate each other. Some emergency kept us from giving each other the injection, THE VERY NEXT DAY, I woke horrible sick with a killer flu like illness. Had I had taken the injection I'd forever thought that is what caused it. Sometimes cause and effect aren't as clear as they appear.

I had to take 5 hours of organic and inorganic chemistry to get into my ADN program way back in the late 80's. It's tragic that nurses don't vaccinate their own children. I have patients who you can't even discuss the issue they are so convinced they know best from reading some whacky website. Recently I was reading an over-the-top obvious faux birth plan and part of it was, "We refuse to have our baby vaccinated, please make sure all other babies on the unit are vaccinated for our child's safety." Love it!!