babynurse2001

Ketchikan is a great little town with a great little hospital. Always looking for nurses... It is wet here, the wettest city in North America, we get about 13 feet of rain per year. BUT if you can put up with the rain it is absolutely beautiful! The people are nice, a real community feel, a great place to raise kids. The ferry from bellingham is very expensive but you can put your car on there and be here in 2 nights. You can get a stateroom but you can also just bring a sleeping bag and camp in the solarium up top, it's pretty cool. It is much cheaper to drive to Prince Rupert and ferry from there, it is only a six hour ferry ride from there so much more reasonable and you definitely don't need a state room. BUT the drive from Seattle to Rupert is very long so either way it takes some time. You can PM me if you have any specific questions.

I am a current FSMFN student, about ready to graduate and take Boards next month. The phone interview is no big deal, just what the others said, why do you want to be a midwife, how do you plan to juggle being a student and a wife/mom/nurse/insert other roles you play here. Frontier Bound is amazing, a truly transformational experience and it is the friendships that you make there that will help you get through the program. It is a tough program, but if you take it one step at a time you will one day be done. Best of luck to you!

Hi! I am a current CNEP student and am just about done with clinicals. I have done the fulltime track, I started 2 years ago in November. I worked fulltime up until last April when I started clinicals. It is possible to work during the first part but very difficult during clinicals. It is definitely a ton of studying, I have done nothing but study and work for the past two years. What I decided at the beginning was that I could do anything for a short time, but to go part time would just drag it out too long. It is definitely not an easy program but you will be ready when you are done! Good luck!

You will need to find a preceptor. The school can help give you names but you will need to contact them and get someone to take you on. It's not as hard as it sounds, if you know a midwife where you live then that is the easiest. If there is nobody where you live then you will need to travel for the last part. Pretty much the last 6 months of the program you will be in clinicals and it is pretty much full time. I live in a small town and am almost finished with clinicals. I have done part of my clinicals here with a midwife I work with and I went to a big city for 2 months to get more volume. It was challenging but very do-able. Good luck!

I am currently a Frontier student and love it - it is a great school. There have been many discussions about Frontier on this board, if you do a search you will find them. Good luck!

Congratulations on taking the plunge! I am a Frontier student and loving it, almost 1/2 way there. It is a hard program but not too hard to manage. I don't know much about the bridge program, it is relatively new. I see that you're from Alaska, just curious, since I am too (Ketchikan), what part? Whan I was in Hyden last year there weren't too many pins in the Alaska map that shows where all the frontier students are, and I was the first from SouthEast!.

I am a Frontier student and think it is a great school. The rumblings that are going on right now have to do with a very big transition that the school is undergoing. In January they changed over to a modified term system. Instead of being completely self paced they now have four 12 week terms. There have been issues with the change, as there are with any major change. They seem to have gotten a lot of the kinks worked out in the Winter term and I hear a lot less grumbling these days. I think most of the people that have a really hard time of it are those that have been there a while and had to change the way they do things midway through their programs. For us newbies it has been much less of a big deal. I, personally, am doing well and have no problems whatsoever with the term system. If you want a good distance midwifery program I would definitely consider Frontier.

It's been studies and doesn't work, according to one of my midwifery texts. I'd have to dig up the research though. It does make sense that it would work, but apparently it doesn't.

I'm currently a Frontier student as well and I also took the Canyon College Stats Course. Is this one still an option for you or have they changed the prereqs? It was very user friendly and I also hate math. I'm sure either of the other 2 would be fine too... it really isn't too bad if you take it one step at a time! Good luck!

I'm sure it depends on the hospital and what their needs are, but it is possible. I have worked for my employer for 9 years in LDRP. I am currently getting my CNM. They are paying for about 1/2 of it (about $12,000 over 2 years). I had to sign a contract that I will work for them for 3 years after I am done. BUT my contract says I am relieved of my obligation to repay it if they are unable to offer me a job as a CNM for fair market wage. So worse case is I don't get a job but then I'm free to find another one. Go for it!

Congratulations! You will do great! I am a Frontier student nurse midwife, just went to Frontier Bound a few weeks ago... it was an amazing and inspiring experience. You'll really like Suzan, she is really down to earth and the interview was no big deal, just typical interview questions. Why do you want to be a midwife, etc. Good luck!

I was accepted to Frontier finally last week! I am off to Kentucky for Frontier Bound in November! I am so excited, nervous, and totally terrified all at the same time! Any other Frontier students / grads out there?

I was off the floor for 15 minutes to grab my lunch and my then manager was watching my patients. When I returned she was standing at the nurse's station chatting with another nurse. I asked her if everybody was allright and she turned to me and said "Was your baby blue when you left?" She's not my manager anymore...

Wow! We have a similar setup as you but not quite as busy (if we do over 30 in a month we almost keel over). It has been our long standing practice as a unit to regulate inductions to some degree. Unless the doc has a really serious medical reason (PIH, etc.) they don't get to do inductions if we're already busy. We'll schedule them if they want but the doc and the pt know that they will be "bumped" if we're too busy to care for them safely. There is no way tose inductions would have both proceeded here with the example you gave. We also never schedule more than 1 thing per day unless we really have to then we get someone to work extra to back it up. Do you have a dedicated OB manager? If so they probably need to take this one an and write some clear policy and then have the *&^% to back it up when the docs get pissed off. It will be a difficult transition but the patients will be safer for it in the long run. As far as the other stuff goes - things like doing an AROM on someone that could wait when the rest of the floor is busy that's a litttle more sticky. Are your docs open to suggestions at all? If you can talk to them and explain your rationalle will they listen? That is how I have handled that one in the past but then again we have fabulous docs that are very reasonable. Good luck.

This isn't from a professional journal, but from a continuing education site. It may be helpful. http://www.netce.com/courseoverview.php?courseid=257

How did it go??? I have one scheduled in 2 weeks - I'm so nervous too! When are you hoping to start? Maybe we'll be at Frontier Bound at the same time!

Best advice I got as a new grad was "don't come out till you find it - every woman has one".

Perhaps I'm just crazy... But am I the only one out here left who finds value in the awesome power of labor? You know - the value of women discovering excatly what their bodies are capable of? That they can do this thing that their mothers, aunts, grandmothers did? There is also value for the significant other to witness this powerful force called labor.... and knowing that their partner is a strong and capable woman? It's true that coaching a woman through a natural labor is very hard and time consuming work, but doesn't anybody else love it? Doesn't anybody else get sick of piling on intervention after intervention that comes with anesthesia? Itching, vomiting, cathing, decels... Me, 2 babies, no epidurals. I know how strong I am and remember it every day when I parent my 3 and 5 year olds.

Hi! I am working on developing a policy for our OB department regarding OB telephone triage. I am looking for recommendations for good OB telephone triage protocol books. I have found a couple online but have no idea whether or not they are any good. They are: Telephone Triage for the Obstetric Patient - A Nursing Guide by Deborah E. Swenson, RN, C, ARNP, and Telephone Triage for Obstetrics and Gynecology by Vicki E Long, MSN, CNM and Patricia McMullen JD, MS, CNS, CRNP. Any ideas?

I nursed both my kids for extended periods of time (15 and 27 months) while working 12 hour L&D/OB shifts. I was lucky to work in a very breastfeeding friendly environment. I pumped 2x a shift while they were little (once mid morning, then again mid afternoon) and then cut back to just the afternoon one after they were a year old. I always had enough milk (though with my second it was always just enough I would have to bring my milk home at the end of the shift or my dd would go hungry the next day). We have a pumping/education room that I was able to use, and I had supportive coworkers. If you really want it to happen you can make it work - good luck!

We had this happen several years ago - a 28 weeker with severe preecclampsia who was awaiting transport to a larger center suddenly abrupted and we had to do a stat c-section for a 28 weeker (we have no NICU). It was quite a big deal for us. I did a lot of reading after that and it has to do with the decreased perfusion coupled with the high pressures in the vessels. I think of it as the high pressure literally "blowing off" the placenta.

If it's such a great place to work why would they need to pay people $15000 to work there? I'd be leery...

I also work in a very small rural LDRP. We went to central monitoring about 5 years ago. We also were concerned that it would decrease the time we spent in the room with moms, really it hasn't happened that way at all. Like SBE said, it is just a tool, and if we use it appropriately it can be very helpful. Now, after 5 years, I can't imagine going back. I LOVE being able to see what's going on in multiple rooms, and I sure don't feel like our hands-on philosophy of care has changed one bit. We don't do epidurals so we are all very hands on... Remember just because you have new technology doesn't mean you have to change the way you nurse.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/Health/story?id=1378087 So we're not the only ones that argue about this topic...