rachingram1220

I'm an L&D nurse in the Navy! (In Europe!) The reserves are good for the items you mentioned, but if you are not already in L&D, you cannot go into L&D as a reservist. They will put you in with your current specialty. You could go in the reserves, and work on school like you mentioned, but most CNM/ OB related higher degrees are looking for some experience in L&D, obstetrics etc. The up side is that you only have to do a weekend a month and 2 weeks a year vs. a full time commitment! I came in through NROTC and as a new grad I was able to go to the high risk OB ward/Antepartum ward and was then able to move to L&D in under 18 months. I was also able to cross train to the NICU and help on L&D when we were slow on the Antepartum ward! But a lot of my coworkers got "stuck" on postpartum or med surg for 2 years or more before they could move to L&D. The Navy's big 3 hospitals-San Diego, Portsmouth and Walter Reed, are great options along with the medium sized hospitals like Camp Pendleton for L&D. I've greatly enjoyed my time as an L&D nurse in the Navy, and there are a lot of opportunities for the Navy to pay for your CNM which I think now is only as an DNP program, or other degrees you may want! However being active duty, you will move every 2-3 years, you may be deployed, and you are at the military's beckon call when they need you. With any job it has it's ups and downs. Talk it over with your family, be honest, and list your pros and cons. Joining the military is a big decision! I've been active duty for six years now, and I've enjoyed the experience and lessons the military has taught me. I'm getting out of the military soon (just because I want to settle down a little bit but I'm leaving the military with 6 years of nursing and leadership experience, which has already translated into a civilian job! Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have more questions! Good luck!

Hi rachmbu, It sounds like they took 2 nurses and turned you into a Multi-Service Ward staff! You should definitely have competencies signed off on the Med-Surg Ward (like Mosby's or like when you went through orientation on any other ward.) This will cover your license. They should not be making you float that often without competencies signed off, even if you have experience! Floating once or twice can be fine, but if you are one of their regular staff…not having a training packet signed for that floor=not cool! It also sounds like the management knows you and the other nurse won't give them as much complaining for floating as the other older nurses would. What does it say in everyone's contract? Is everyone suppose to float? It might not be in the older nurses contract, just the nurses who were hired in the past few years. If it is everyone's contract, take it up the chain of command! As for the babies, it should be ok as long as they aren't making you work on both floors during the same shift, especially if you use universal precautions. If you think something isn't safe, speak up and use the 2 challenge rule! I'm currently a nurse supervisor on a Multi-Service Ward, while working 12 hours shifts as a clinical nurse. We literally have L&D on one side, and Med-Surg, Peds, Ortho and BH on the other! We all have competencies signed off for L&D (we have some specific L&D nurses, but the other nurses are ICU, Med-Surg and psych trained nurses who have been through some L&D training.) We also have competencies signed off for Med-Surg, Peds and BH-that way we all are covered and trained to take any patient we might get on the floor. If we do have an infected patient who is on some type of precautions (MRSA, C-Diff, pneumonia, VRE etc) we do not mix nursing/corpsmen (I'm in the Navy!) staff. The staff who take care of the infected patient, have nothing to do with any babies that shift. The next shift might be different, but we are really careful in making staff/patient assignments when there are patients on precautions and babies on the floor as well. Main point: If you feel it is unsafe….it probably is, and that warrants you to speak up! Ask for training/competencies and then take it up your chain of command if things are not resolved. I hope this helps. Let me know if you continue to have trouble!

Please do, I'm happy to help!

Good job on trying to study early! Intrapartum Management Modules: A Perinatal Education Program from AWHONN is a wonderful guide! Plus, I used 2 online practice exams from https://www.ccprwebsite.org. They are straight up awesome! They do cost about $50 each, but you get to take each test twice, and it opened up areas that I needed to study more (you can print out the test!) I also had out my Med-Surg books and Maternal-Child books from nursing school, when I studied. Those really helped with the patho. I made decks beyond decks of flashcards that I could keep as well, so I could review at anytime even after I passed my RNC-OB! I've had 2 other nurses use the flash cards I made, with the above resources and they both passed as well :) Good luck!!

sm_carter, please do!!

When I feel like the shift can't possibly get busier and the patients can't possibly get more critical I always remember a phrase my brother taught me from his experience being deployed in the middle east "Be still my heart, it could always be worse!" Good luck!

I'm a Navy Nurse! Send me an email @ [email protected] and I'll reply with answers to all your questions. I'm excited to help anyone interested in military nursing!

I started out as a clinical nurse on a High Risk Perinatal unit and I loved it! A high risk unit is the place to be if you want to move to L&D (I was able to smoothly transition to L&D in the same facility after 1.5 years on their high risk unit!) The complicated patients you will have on that unit, will prepare you very well for actually laboring those patients. You learn how to read EFM strips, how to monitor preterm FHRs (like 24 week twins!), and all about conditions like PPROM, previa, partial abruptions, twin-twin transfusion, preterm labor, and much more. You also still get quite a bit of medical surgical nursing with antibiotics, PICC lines, insulin, magnesium drips, hypertension protocols, seizure protocols, and emergent situations that require delivery. My unit would also act as a high risk postpartum unit, so we would receive all of our high risk patients back, which gave me experience in high risk postpartum as well. Working on that unit opened up opportunities for me to work in L&D and to cross train in the NICU (I'm at a small hospital now, and the NICU training is so valuable!) The L&D nurses I trained with, loved that I already had experience with all of the above. That said be careful when applying for jobs. Don't deny your ER job until you know you have the High Risk Perinatal unit job :) ED nursing experience is still good on a resume for L&D-both have emergent situations under pressure. Go for it and apply for the high risk unit, it will help you get to that L&D floor quickly. Good luck!

You may not have time to even think about how vomiting makes you sick too because you'll be too busy trying to take care of the patient-getting a basin as fast as you can, washcloths, new gown etc. You will move at lightening speed when vomiting is involved! There are things you can do to help: The first time a patient states they have nausea=med right away and a basin nearby. Move post op patients slowly in bed, or they will throw up on you! And lastly have quick reflexes and jumping ability if you are in the room and the patient states they are going to throw up :) We all have something that makes us gag, but there is usually a way around it. Pick a nursing specialty that you enjoy, cause in reality we all get some type of bodily fluids on us at some point. I can stand L&D fluids everyday, but I can not do mucous snot and cough secretions.....ick! Hence L&D and not Peds for me! Good luck!

The thing I love about L&D nursing is that you never know what is going to walk through your door :) Any delivery can go to an emergency in a heartbeat. Which does cause some anxiety if you think about for too long! But you are ready or they wouldn't let you go on your own! You always have the labor nurses to back you up, to ask questions too, and to help you in every emergent situation. Help always arrives when you ask for it (or scream down the hallway for it..."Shoulder!!"). Just remember to always ask for help early, rather than late. Be confident, yet humble. Write down what you learn and study it. And your ultimate goal is a safe mom and safe baby. Have fun!

Trust your exam and your nursing instinct! You are the patient's advocate, and you did exactly that. You advocated for her and her baby, and the results were a safe delivery. Exams are subjective, and I remind patients of that if the provider's exam is different that my admission exam. More times than not, the nurses exam is more accurate :) That OB provider just put a really bad image of herself to the patient and the other nurses---I bet a lot of the nurses don't want to deliver with that provider. Gone are the days of nurses just following doctor orders. You are an integral part of the L&D team, and that provider could not do her job without you! You are her co-worker, you are not beneath her, or her patient's babysitter. You both are equal parts on the team! It's hard to forget situations like this (I've had some too, and it still make me mad that I didn't stand up for myself!) but let it slide and learn from it. The next time a situation like this arrives, you will be ready to ask the doctor to discuss the situation outside of the room and not at the nurses station. You will also learn when the doctor is going to say something inappropriate (body language and facial expressions!) and how to interject a sentence or comment in the patient's room before the doctor can say something that everyone is going to regret. Standing up for yourself quickly and professionally off the unprofessional words of others is an art, and a milestone you have crossed to become a great L&D nurse!