Happie2bRN

I can feel your frustration. I was a postpartum and medical surgical nurse prior to transitioning to labor and delivery. My first L&D job was horrible. My preceptor would loud talk me in front of other staff including doctors and residents. She was going behind my back to the manager because she felt I wasn't listening because I would nod and smile when she told me things. Her words were, "You are not listening because you won't repeat it back to me." When asked did I demonstrate I was listening by tasks, she replied "yes." Long story short, I left that job and went to work with another hospital in L&D and I love it!! With that being said, if L&D is were you want to be don't let one bad experience deter you. Sometimes it takes changing work places to make the situation better.

I know that this is an old post, but I felt a need to respond. I come from working postpartum and yes the tension between L&D nurses and postpartum nurses can sometimes be high. At the hospital I worked, the postpartum area was often understaffed and not only did we received delivery patients, but also antepartum and women whom had surgeries in general. With that being said, I often felt frustrated when I was the only RN on the floor with 13 and sometimes as high as 16 patients while the L&D nurses had only 1 patient in their department completely and was so determined to send that 1 patient on to the floor on me. Gosh, if the supervisor would ask them to come and help on postpartum when they had no patients, they would come but rush to do it so they could return back to their department and chill for sometimes the rest of the day. I think nurses in general should have respect for one another regardless of their area of work. I am one of those nurses who will go out to help another nurse when my patient's load wasn't heavy and did not mind floating to other areas during that time. By the way, I do not call the L&D nurses for bleeds I handle my own patient's care and if needed, call the DOCTOR. It sickens me when other nurses believe that postpartum nurses look at lady partss all day and monitor pads. We do more than that- we have patients with multiple comorbidities- seizures, diabetes (insulin drips), hypertension, CVAs, chest pains, DVTs (heparin drips), hyperemesis gravidarum, threatening miscarriages, amputees and asthma. So no darling, we are not just looking at lady partss all day.

I will definitely ask for a longer orientation. I just hope that I have made the right decision about taking the first job. When I went for an interview at the first job they were so stuck on hoping I had learned enough in 6 weeks from my prior job while the second job interview didn't dwell on that but instead were opened to hiring an inexperience nurse in L&D with great willingness to train me.

Cat365 I wish I had thought about that and asked to job shadow each for a day.

From what I gathered through the interview process, each facility have about the same level of acuity- high risk deliveries. The only thing that is troubling me is the time period of orientation offered by the first job which I have already accepted. I don't like changing jobs constantly so I don't want to make the wrong decision and have to change jobs.

I have been a nurse for 6 years mostly working in medical surgical, postpartum and pediatric area. In late August I not only changed my area of nursing to L&D, but also moved to another state. Due to family illness, I am finding myself having to relocate back to my prior location. I have 2 job offers for L&D, but I am finding it hard to decide on which job to choose. Both jobs as mention are for L&D, same salaries, and same distance of travel. The first job is considering me to be an L&D nurse with experience even though I have only about 6 weeks of experience. With that being said, the job is offering me 6 weeks of orientation to their facility. The second job is considering the fact that I have been an L&D nurse for a short term and is therefore offering me 12 weeks of orientation. The icing on the cake is prior to getting the second job offer, I already had accepted the first job offer and just waiting on start date orientation. Could anyone give me some input on what they would do in this situation? Sorry for long text- Thanks

Late congratulations! I am transitioning from a pediatrics and women(antepartum/postpartum/women surgical) department to labor and delivery in a new state. I'm excited about the opportunity, but nervous at starting over in a new area. I'm hoping I can grasp it and do excellent patient care. I have been a nurse for 6 years, but told it will feel like being a new nurse all over again. Wish me luck!

Thanks classicdame for your response. I think I will do just that. My manager says it's the new company that has taken over our hospital. Their idea is less nurse to more patients I'm hoping not but it seems we have started heading that way.

Thanks for your correction!

Hi I currently work as an RN at one of my local hospital. I'm hired as a Postpartum/Pediatric nurse but I float a lot to Med/Surg as well. I'm getting stressed out on my job because there's a lot of days where I don't get a break not even to use the bathroom. The problem is that my supervisor/chief nursing officer view my area as one of less acuity so therefore they will staff it with 1RN and 1 LPN with 15 patients. However, they never take into consideration all the respiratory distress pediatric patient we get and even though these women may just had a baby some have other illness that must be address in the postpartum stage as well. We also get a lot of surgery patients not just c-sections but total abdominal hysterectomy, hernia repair,robotic hysterectomies basically any woman with abdominal surgeries. The LPN that works with me is not IV certified and she doesn't like doing work in general. Give her one task and she spends all day completing it because she wants to take a break continuously. I'm like over my head with this one and I'm be a sick nurse because I'm not eating or just stopping for 3 minutes of me time. The last day I worked we started out with 4 patients which is fine but then I started getting new admits back to back and some at the same time. Our hospital has implemented a bucket load of paper work just for one admit so it takes twice the amount of time or more to admit one patient. The LPN let's call her Sally did only vitals never tried to help with the paperwork that was listed as LPN/RN to complete. I had to call all the consultations, start all the IVs and meds. It's only this LPN that don't want to work but all others I have work with r fantastic. However, everyone in the hospital refuses to work with her so I get stuck with her all the time. I don't know if it's the lack of teamwork or the lack of staffing but its taking a big toll on me and my body. I know my post is long but what I need to know is from a nurse prospective what should I do?

Thanks PinkNBlue I really needed to hear that. I'm excited about starting my career as a nurse and now looking forward to working PP. Will update on how it's going.

I am a new RN graduate and is set to begin working on a PP/Peds unit. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I loved working on the PP floor during clinical. I have read under other discussion topics that postpartum nursing is boring and made for nurses who's ready to retire. With that being said, anxiety arises for me because I want plenty of experience such as starting IVs, caths, and so far. Can anyone tell me about their experience as a PP nurse? Thanks in advance!