obtech2nurse

I will be starting in July - RN to BSN. I need to finally get this darn BSN under my belt so I go on to bigger and better things. I am hoping to do it all in one term.

I am not sure if this is too late or not but here goes... I am an OB nurse in Bethel, AK. I can honestly say I love it up here. The people here are very friendly and nice. I love the unit I work on. I am very involved with community doing roller derby and theatre. There is adult softball in the summer and vollyball. There is alot of activites to do if you look. However, this location is not for just anyone. It is very rural and remote. Do not plan on leaving the town unless you pay around $500 for a round trip ticket to Anchorage. The surrounding area is very plain to look at. Prices are very high for living expenses. Milk $7.99. Tide 32 loads $17.99. Canned veggies around $3.00 a can. Coke $13.99 for a 12 pack. There are about 10 restaurants with a burger and fries costing around $13.00. Online shopping takes on a new meaning! Nurses either love it and stay or hate it, b**ch about it and leave the second they can. I really think you have to come with the knowledge that you need to be able to fill your free time with hobbies and get involved with others around you. Oh yeah - the cold temps are also a challenge and need to be considered as well.

I need to find some articles to support my position. I guess I know what I am going to do with my downtime tonight!

I have always taken BP on the left side of patients with differing levels of PIH (I know there is no such thing any more, but how do you abbreviate pre-eclampsia?) An older nurse jumped all over me because I did this all night. She claims that we should NEVER take BP's with the patient on their side because it "falsely lowers it". She is dead set that she is right. We already knew this patient was severe pre-eclampic and had established that she needed to be delivered. Why encourage high BP when the fetus has better perfusion with mom on L side with "stable" BP's? How does everyone else deal with this?

I just started a job in a small hospital where Cytotec induction is routine. Our policy is to monitor the baby for 30mins before admin, then monitor for 2 hours. The nurses do not even check heart tones between that time. Is that a normal practice? The three L&D units I worked at did not use Cytotec at all for live births. I am very uncomfortable with the lack of cont fetal monitoring as I feel that Cytotec is in the same "high risk" as Cervidil, Pitocin, and Mag. Why is there a difference in fetal monitoring standards? Any ideas? I would like to feel better about it. (My background is high risk antepartum and L&D)

We are supposed to go to 20 mu of Pit and our providers get upset if they walk into a room and do not see 20 mu going regardless of progession of labor. It makes me laugh because the CNM's get the most upset about it. I hardly ever go past 10 mu and only go to 20 when the pt is making no cervical change at all. Once my contx get 2-3 mins apart for 60-80 secs I stop increasing the pit. If they start spacing out, I will increase it more. I am always moving my pt and getting them into different positions. That really helps. If the pt has not made adequate cervical change then I will bump the pit more. I have to defend my actions to the provider (by not having pit at 20 mus at all times) but when I state that contx pattern is reassuring and the pt is making cervical change, the provider will (hopefully) stop complaining.

L&D is very rewarding and challenging. It is so much fun to watch a family introduce a new member, there is rarely a day that I don't get teary eyed during a delivery. I love my job, but even a year into working as a nurse and 6 years of being an ob tech/scrub I still feel lost alot. I only have L&D experiance but I would highly recommend it to any one "drawn to it". If you don't like it - you will know really quick. You either love it or hate it.

Thanks guys. I just really needed to vent. I work weekend option and our weekend shift is beyond great. Everyone is so helpful and we really work as team. I only work one day during the week and that is the day I have so much trouble with not gettting any help. The bad part is I really can't talk to the manager about it. She is tight friends with the charge nurses that are giving me the hard time and all the nurseas that will not work as a team. I will just go back to work, chart my best and pray that something that I really need a team for , ie prolapsed cord, doesn't happen during the one day I work in the week.

Sorry- long thread- I really need to vent or I might just go to another unit with checkmarked charting - I had a very bad day yesterday and I had about four supervisiors watching my charting all day long and commenting (negatively) on my charting and the method that I choose to chart with. I have been a nurse in L&D for one year and all of a sudden my supervisors started this complant. When I first started I even asked these superviors if I was charting correctly, all of them said yes. So I was quite surprized when they started checking my charting every hour to watch what I was doing. (Why didn't they do that a year ago ?) Well, I started the day with one labor and one induction. The labor wanted an epidural at the same time the induction got there. Well this shift that I was working does not take kindly to asking for help, so I was on my own. Well I finally got everything settled and was ready to chart my heartones. (FYI- I chart interventions while I do them) While this was happening my charge charge started calling me every 30 mins to comment on what I wasn't charting. I told here I was acutally caring for my patients (novel idea, huh) and I would chart when I got a second to do it. I got in trouble for that comment. Well I did get caught up about 45 mins later, and the charge nurse said "I'm gonna make a good nurse out of you yet". i really should have asked her to go to my patients room and ask them if I was a good nurse. Then the day went down hill from there. A delivery and c/s with no help from any one else. Both of pts where thrilled with my care I provided. i was able to chart and leave my unit on time. I am not sure why I can not chart after I provide my care. How do you others do their charting? I like to what til lunch and about four and do a lot of hearttones at one time. i feel that I can give better care to my pts that way and I am not taking care of the computer all day instead of the pt. I really love l/d and my pts but i can not stand the shift that i was working when this happened. no will help another nurse, even if you ask. You are totally on your own. I feel like when I ask for help I am ignored. Sorry for the long rant. I am very frustarted.

Thanks for the encouragement!!

I am thinking about going to med school. I think my background as a nurse would help me be a better doctor. Has anyone heard of RN's going to med school. I would like to know if med schools would like that or look down on it. Any thoughts?

Just an update. I passed!!!!

Congrats!! Good for you!

I am kind of interested in correctional nursing, but I haven't been able to find any openings to apply for in Georgia. Where do you look for those openings? I am currently working in L&D and I need a part time job. I love L&D but I don't want to get burned out on it. I always said I would be a police officer if I wasn't a nurse. I think it would be a great change of pace for me. I also want to keep my Med-Surg, Assessment, and Psych skills up to date. It is real easy to forget all that stuff when you work with pregnant ladies all the time. If anyone has any ideas, I would be grateful. Thanks

I love to work nights! I have worked nights for several years as an OB tech. I am now during my orientation on days for 12 weeks. I can not wait to go back to nights. I have worked at several hospitals and it seems that people are more helpful and friendly at night. You become friends with your co-workers and everything is a team effort.