Question about working in the Nursery.

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Hello,

I've been viewing this site for about a year I think, but this is my first post. I'm about to start my last year of nursing school and I work as a nurse extern. Recently I was floated to a mother-baby(couplet)floor...I loved it, but I only worked in the nursery, not with the mothers.My question is... besides the NICU, is there a type of floor where you can care for babies only? On the floor I went to they alternate daily who works with moms and who works with babies. I thank you in advance for any replies.;)

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Specializes in Adult internal med, OB/GYN, REI..

there may be a lower acuity unit for neonates that you may be able to work on, it's going to be dependent on that particular hospital and what it can provide as it's highest level of care.

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Every hospital is different. Ask tons of questions at your interviews.

At my hospital, all the nurses rotate through nursery AND post partum. NICU is the only ALL BABY unit in my hospital.

Good luck to you!

Heather

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Two of the hospitals I've worked at had Newborn (well baby) nurseries that were staffed full time by exclusively neonatal nurses. These nurses had to rotate in and out of the well-baby nursery into the special care nursery/NICU, but that's still all babies.

What Heather said is correct. Each hospital does it different. Ask LOTS of questions.

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Thanks for the info everyone. I have floated to many different types of floors and not found one that I thought I would want to do permanently. However, when I went to mother-baby I truely enjoyed it. I was so happy to hopefully have found where I want to work when I graduate.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Welcome to allnurses.com, kooky and I wish you good luck. The advice you receive above, I agree. Take care and hang in there!

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If you really have your heart set on babies only, is there a children's hospital in your area? Just a thought. :)

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Specializes in cardiac, diabetes, OB/GYN.

Welcome to you! If the way things are going gets to fruition, we will be headed to mother baby couplet for everyone...Totally unrealistic at least in our facility. Not enough nurses or willing patients....That is a whole other story. In our facility, we all rotate through pp, nursery, delivery and pedi....Everyone is required to do at least 3 areas...Mostly, we have the nursery open at all times because many people just want to utilize that time frame to sleep...Sometimes in a smaller facility, you may notice that you get to do the nursery as part of your requirements, but usually, as others here have mentioned, you must cross train to at least some of the other areas involoved....

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