mommy2BCD

I am a new L&D nurse (week 4 of orientation) and I also have a few questions about Pit. Why do we keep upping the Pit when the patient's contractions are in a regular pattern? We have so many Pit inductions on my unit, several everyday. A lot of the moms don't even know why they are being induced. I don't know...can anyone explain Pitocin better for me because apparently I am confused. Thanks

Hello everyone, This past week was my first week in L&D and so far ILOVE it!! I am excited to get to the point where I understand things more. I came from an ICU background so I have a lot to learn. I will be attending a fetal monitoring class in December but in the mean time I need some help. My preceptor has explained fetal monitoring a little to me, but I need more. Can you tell me about decels, accels, variability, etc.?? I am kind of lost. I also have NO idea how to do a SVE and have done some research here on that as well. I feel like SVEs are so hard. I have no idea what I am feeling except for baby's head. I know everything comes with time so I am trying not to be too hard on myself. There is so much to learn.

Hi all, I just wanted to know a little about high risk OB. It seems that at my hospital the manager described it as the "feeder unit" to L&D. She said that once a position becomes available in L&D the High Risk OB RNs get first choice. I wondered what kind of things might be seen and what everyone thinks about going from High Risk OB to L&D? What is the usual patient ratio and pace? If this is the way into the unit do you all think I should go for it? Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello all, I am currently a Neuro ICU RN and am really having a serious change of heart. I started last July in a critical care fellowship and completed that after 5 months of various critical care rotations. I started in the Neuro ICU in January. It has been recently that I am feeling I should have went to my gut choice of maternal child. As a new grad I was really torn between maternal child nursing (L&D, PP, nursery, whatever) and ICU nursing. I thought that ICU would allow me more opportunities for advanced nursing degrees and really challenge me. I am beginning to think I made the wrong choice. At times in the ICU I feel as though I am fighting a losing battle. We have patients that never come off the vent, we trach and PEG or withdraw care on. We also see a lot of deaths or people who will never lead a good quality of life ever again. I just feel like at times I am making no difference! So to make the long story short. I was wondering if anyone has made the switch from an ICU to L&D and any thoughts on this? Also current L&D nurses, how do you feel on a daily basis? Do you love/ hate your job and why? I am just really confused and need some advice. At times I dread going to work because I feel as though my days are on REPEAT! I feel like I did not become a nurse to hate my job. Any help would be greatly appreciated !

Hello all, I am currently a neuro ICU nurse and really am thinking about a change. I love the unit I work on, the people, the management is pretty good, I am just having a hard time with our patient population. We have a lot of really sad cases, people who are trached and pegged and never recover or those who we withdraw on. I feel at times like I am just maintaing a "body". I am questioning whether critical care is really for me. I did an internship in PP/L&D in nursing school and liked it. I was thinking that a happier place may be a welcome change. I wanna know all the all the pros and cons and if anyone has done the ICU to L&D transformation. How does it compare. Do you like L&D? Any advice will be very helpful.

I am no "active duty expert" however my husband was AD for 4 years and did attend school while AD. I think that the information you were given on #2 is grossly inaccurate. Schools transfer credits based on their standards and it has nothing to do with being in the military or not. If I am understanding you correctly you are talking about attending civilian school and receiving tuition assistance, correct? You are correct that you receive tuition assistance up to a certain amount per year, I forget what the actual amount is. Please be advised though, that a recruiter cannot guarantee you that a school will accept transfer credits as a "military perk". My husband attended online classes through Devry University and in that case it was easy to move from location to location because everything was online, however I don't see this being the case with a WHNP program where you will have clinical time. One other thing, if you choose to do classes on your own time also be aware that the military will not work around your school schedule so there may be times you must miss classes because of exercises or even be denied the option to attend classes (saw both happen with friends in AF). I am no expert on this, but from the information I have gathered in my quest to join the AF I would think that by utilizing the military option to go to school full time at a civilian school while on AD would be your best bet. In the AF it is called AFIT program I believe. There are some more experienced members on here that could explain more to you. Best of luck!

I lived on an Air Force base for 3.5 years while husband was active duty. It was so much fun. We were always having friends over for dinner, bbqs, etc. There is such a unique feeling of community and friendship that I can't describe. We made some of the best friends while living there. I miss it so much! Everyone is in the same boat. You all are far away from home and need a shoulder to lean on sometimes. We spent holidays together, babysat each others kids, etc. I am actually thinking about joining the AF now myself as a nurse because I really miss that sense of community and belonging. Other perks include commissary groceries which I have found to be anywhere from 2-3x cheaper that civilian grocery stores. Also, gas is sometimes cheaper and supposed to be priced lower than market as well as the BX which is like a department store that has specials as well. I think that living on base was one of the only ways that being in the military is doable. Just my Plus IT'S FREE! As well as utilities, all maintenance, and they even give you stuff for your house for FREE! Such as ceiling fans, shelving units. rocks for you garden, light switches, furnace filters. the list could go on and on!!! If you have any ?'s let me know, would be happy to help.

I sent you a PM with further questions. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks so much! QUOTE=Nole_Nurse33;2766908]If you come in the AF with the ICU identifier (46NxE) you're almost guaranteed to deploy regularly regardless of your assignment location. Currently the AF has a shortage of E's and is really working hard to recruit and retain in this specialty ($$$). Example: In FY09 I will have the option to extend my commitment (initial 4yrs expires) as an AF ICU nurse for 4 more years and receive a $20k/yr bonus...yes $80k. The catch is that you do have to have your CCRN to qualify, but that's enough motivation to study and pass. I would imagine that if they are being this aggressive to retain ICU nurses then they must be beefing up the accession bonuses for ICU nurses as well. Money aside, I truly enjoy being an AF nurse and we're definitely given opportunities (travel, training, etc.) that a lot of our civilian counterparts are not.

So I went to talk with a recruiter yesterday (4/8/08) and he said there are currently NO bonuses or student loan repayment options for nurses joining the Air Force? I was so shocked I had to pick my jaw up off the floor lol. He said that in the fiscal year there were no bonuses at the beginning and that they finally approved them in December and that the money was all "ate up" with the applicants that applied before and after that time. I guess I was under the impression that the AF was hurting for nurses and especially ICU nurses (which I am). Can anyone shed some light on this situation for me? Is there any chance I am being lied to? Husband was with me (previous AD USAF), so it's not that we believe everything recruiters say, but he seemed pretty honest on this issue?? He did say that they are "scrambling" to try to pull money from other sources in order to recruit and retain nurses but just that there is "no money" right now? Anyone that can help I would really appreciate it!

In the process of getting BSN. Well the bonus and loan repayment aren't really my reasons for joining but they do sweeten the deal, so that was on my list. What did you get offered for Army as far as bonus right now?

Oh, sorry you're right. I wanna do Air Force, I am already an RN with some experience (about 8 months Neuro ICU). I have been doing so much research on here that I feel like I kinda already know a good bit. I guess I just wanted to know the questions to ask or requests to make that people don't think of.

I am going to talk to a recruiter this week and would like to hear some specific questions I should ask. Any answers will be greatly appreciated! :)

I am considering the AF. I am an Rn working in Neuro ICU. I would have the ICU identifier going in as I will have the >1 year requirement. I would want Wilford Hall. What are the chances? Also heard that this is a high deployment base (which I figured) but just wanted some others opinion on this. Also is there any chance to go to CCATT training right after COT or do you have to have time in service before that? Thanks ! Abby

Hi there, I am currently a nurse working in a Neuro ICU. I have thought about military nursing for awhile now. My hubby was active duty AF and just recently finished his time and is now out. I have some specific questions on the entire process. I have been looking through past threads and have found some answers but not all. 1. Tell me what the process is like start to finish (talking to recruiter to moving to base). Do you go for officer training? How long is that? 2. Do you get to "choose" your base? In my husbands case he was enlisted (was sent to South Dakota, definitely not even a choice). Will I experience a different process being commissioned? 3. How much experience do you need before getting an ICU identifier? After all of the training I have been through I really want to keep and use my ICU skills. 4. What are the bases that have large hospitals and high acuity ICUs? We were at Ellsworth AFB, only a clinic there, hospital went out a couple years ago. 5. What is CCATT? I may even have the letters wrong? It sounds interesting. Could anyone tell me more from experience? 6. Does time in the civilian sector count at all for making a higher starting rank? Ok, I could ask a million more questions but I am sure that is enough for now. I would really appreciate any advice. Lastly, do you ever regret your decision on being an AF nurse and why?

Ok I have a few more questions. I am also a new Neuro nurse here fresh out of orientation. Because nail bed pressure can show both painful stimuli response and spinal reflexes, how are we to know? Also, how to you chart on the GCS if a pt. moves their arm, leg etc to "noxious stimuli" such as suctioning and also to pain? Wouldn't the move to suctioning be higher level of functioning than pain? On our flow sheet we have a GCS and then we have spots for all 4 extremities where we chart either a muscle grade 1-5 or like PS, TS, SP, dec. decort. posturing etc. I guess I sometimes still am having a hard time with all of this and I really do want to be accurate. I also have a hard time telling the difference between localizing to stim and normal flexion withdrawl on the GCS. Can anyone explain these in further detail? Thanks so much, Abby