babyrn85

Every nurse is not a good fit for every department. It takes different personalities to mesh with each specialty. Add in that nursing care in a hospital at least is changing weekly it seems, and there's no wonder new grads, especially more seasoned workers, are struggling with feelings. I'm a nursery nurse, have been for over30 years. I've seen nurses, new and experienced ones, come and go. For some its finding out the harsher realities. For some its the inability to fit the hours in with their families and personal lives. It is so hard to feel you can and are doing your best but worry you are not. All it takes is an unsympathetic nurse or nasty Dr to make you second think your choice and ability. Seek out the good ones and shadow them. Stand up, firmly but politely to the Drs. Give yourself enough time to really learn the area, so you can say, "yes I can do this, it's just not me". Keep your eyes and ears open for jobs that might allow you to use skills you built in your " pre-life". Above all, get in the car each morning with a positive attitude that you are one day stronger, smarter, or closer to a good decision. At the end of the day, sit in your car for a minute and replay what when down during the shift. Take a few deep breaths and leave the bad there in the parking lot. But take care of you! No one else can as well as you. Best wishes to all of you who are struggling, and know this....I was you once too. And I made it through. You can too, somewhere.

What are realistic expectations postpartum. Especially if they had a different birth experience. Every birth and baby is different so sometimes even the multips have a tough time.

Experience in a clinical setting is never a deterrent. OB is an area that takes a while to train to so a lot of places are going to look for the experienced OB/LD/NURSERY nurse first. But you have strengths over a new grad or someone coming in from an outpatient setting. Go for it and don't give up if that's really where you want to be.

Hopefully. Most of the time you do get a feel for it but even the most experienced nurse has to get a colleague to see what she thinks once in a while. Ask to check everyone you can (with the patients OK of course). We recently got a Teaching tool which helps nurses practice feeling different cervices and stations. Maybe your facility would purchase one for your staff to train with? Good luck and don't give up..we were all there once too.

I agree. Does your hospital have a "float" pool. While you like PP you need to get your hours in. Unfortunately, this decrease in hours is not just in your hospital. Good luck and get on that phone or if you have friends in the facility ask them for a referral.

L&D nursing is as intense a specialty as there gets. Being a new nurse is definitely a disadvantage for you. You probably have a long way to go to develop basic independent nursing skills that give you that confidence you see in the more experienced nurses. Not to mention you have 2 patients in one and who wants to be part of a possible bad situation involving a baby!? Having said all of this, you are right, not everyone has the personality or passion for every type of nursing. Were I to be a future employer, I would be able to take an explanation of why you chose to leave the position with an open mind. As long as you were able to show an ability to stick with a position. Who knows if psych is your fit either? Good luck with your nursing journey. You'll find your niche!