OBRN91

Are you an experienced RN? Which certification do you currently hold? I would recommend obtaining your NRP and STABLE before applying as it makes you a better candidate. BLS, ACLS, PALS and ENPC are required for my facility as an L&D RN, in addition to fetal heart monitoring which you will be required to take hopefully during your orientation. Asking "why" questions is a MUST in this specialty. Be sure you are good with multitasking and attention to detail, if you are a new grad, I definitely recommend that you get some good time on the med/surg floor to perfect your assessment skills. A lot of OB is focused assessments when things are running smooth, but one thing to remember in this area is things can be great, but when moms and babes take a turn for the worst, they crash hard. Good luck with your career path!

I work at a small 23 bed critical access hospital that includes ED, labor and delivery, special care nursery, adult special care unit, medsurg and full OR services. Currently we have 1 inpatient nursing supervisor that oversees all L&D and medsurg staff. Whenever L&D is slow and medsurg is short, they always pull an OB nurse to the floor, lately it has been expected that an OB nurse be utilized on the floor, and it has put OB short. We staff L&D according to AWHONN staffing guidelines. I am looking to see how other small hospital with an L&D unit staff their units as well as floating policies. We are too small to be extremely specialized, but not just any nurse can float to L&D and take patients like L&D can float to medsurg.

May I ask how big your facility/unit is?

May I ask how big your facility/unit is?

I am a CLC (certified lactation counselor), and we order our forms from the Healthy Children Project, Inc.

I have worked in my L&D unit for some time now. When I was hired as a new RN there was not much of an orientation process. Seeing more and more new hires/new RN's coming to the unit, I struggle with their transition period because the department still has no formal orientation process, we sort of just throw them in and hope they swim. I have reached out to hospitals of all sizes for input and help with a process but all seem to withhold their information. So I am seeking input or ideas from fellow OB nurses as to their orientation experience or processes. I am not in management/leadership position, I am a fellow OB RN who is seeking to make the transition for new hires to our OB unit smoother for those of us training them and the new nurses themselves.