Scared of being an RN in a hospital but need the experience

CNM2B · Sep 30, 2008

Getting RN experience doesn't necessarily HAVE to be L&D. Working as a hospital RN is great experience no matter where you work. I worked for awhile in GYN oncology and now work in neuro. I think both have been valuable opportunities that have taught me a LOT. I start my CNM program in a few months and hope to spend a little time in L&D before I graduate, but I definitely don't think it is mandatory--especially with the misgivings you have about it. Good luck on your journey!

Smark35 · Oct 1, 2008

Wannabmidwife,

I can understand where you're coming from, but I might be able to offer a slightly different perspective. I've been in labor and delivery for 10 years, and I also want to be a CNM. I think my experience with hospital birth has taught me many valuable lessons. Not all interventions are unneccessary, for example. Sometimes there are genuine complications, and I believe I will now recognize them. Are there inductions, tests, and devices used that aren't really necessary? Absolutely! But I am very familiar with their use and indication for the cases where they are necessary.

I have seen Docs hurry the birth process for their own convenience, but I have also seen some wonderful docs put their own lives on hold, or cancel their entire office, to let someone "try a few more hours since the baby still looks ok" or to VBAC when they need a doc on standby for immediate surgery. Most of the docs that deliver in hospitals are really very good practitioners. ( You always have a few gems, though, that you hope get hit by a bus on their way in to deliver your sweet trusting patient. kidding-rofl)

My point is, I know I will probably have to work with or at least collaborate and refer to docs like these, and an understanding of how they think and run things will be helpful to me when I'm struggling to bridge the gap. Also, they respect my opinion already because of my years of actually running the labor aspect of things. It's mostly the nurse you know, the docs usually show up to catch. And, I've caught about 40 or so when the docs didn't make it at all. Which is my very favorite thing. And let me just point out, that if it's done with great care and discretion, and if you choose your words carefully, a good labor nurse can make a patient understand that she may have options that haven't been discussed with her. ( devious grin here. )

wannabmidwife · Oct 1, 2008

CNM2B & Smark35,

Thank you so much for your insight and your perspectives. I loved your last comment, Smark35, about choosing your words carefully:yeah:and CNM2B's comment about having other options besides L&D. The thing is that I would only want to be in L&D but don't know if that's possible. I don't want to deal with sick people and that's what nursing is, or is it?? I don't know, anyway, thank you both for your comments and good luck to you.

RNLaborNurse4U · Oct 2, 2008

CNM2B & Smark35,
Thank you so much for your insight and your perspectives. I loved your last comment, Smark35, about choosing your words carefully:yeah:and CNM2B's comment about having other options besides L&D. The thing is that I would only want to be in L&D but don't know if that's possible. I don't want to deal with sick people and that's what nursing is, or is it?? I don't know, anyway, thank you both for your comments and good luck to you.

You don't know about getting into L&D until you try :-) I applied for, and went straight into OB/Maternity when I graduated from nursing school. Believe me, there are OB/maternity jobs out there for new grads!

Jen G

RNLaborNurse4U · Oct 2, 2008

And let me just point out, that if it's done with great care and discretion, and if you choose your words carefully, a good labor nurse can make a patient understand that she may have options that haven't been discussed with her. ( devious grin here. )

You are SO right on this!!! I have done this multiple times, for a variety of things too.

Jen G

kalley · Oct 3, 2008

I was totally in your shoes. I have wanted to be a midwife for years, but had and still have no desire to become a nurse. I would have become a Direct Entry midwife if I could have in my state, but that isn't likely to happen any time soon. So now I have started my pre-reqs for my ADN. After getting my RN I will try my hardest to get into L&D or a nurse at the Birthing Center that is near me or maybe in an OBGYN office. If not I will take the job that I can get and do it for the year that is needed. I figure I can do anything for a year. It'll be well worth it in the end. Also, in the mean time I am going to get my Doula certification to get my birth fix.

Goozgog · Oct 5, 2008

I felt the same way. I only became a RN so that I could become a midwife. I had no interest in working with sick people either.

In school, my favorite class was ob and I loved the clinical.

After graduation I applied to L&D in two hospitals. They both said they wouldn't hire me without some kind of experience unless I had capstoned there and of course I didn't. Unfortunately, my school couldn't get me in.

So I applied to a cardiology unit because I had a classmate working there who loved the experience she was getting. I thought this is probably the best way for me to get my "nursing" skills in for now.

While in cardiology/tele, I traveled to Ghana with my employer and some MD's for a humanitarian mission. I met with the nursing supervisor at the hospital there and she said I could work wherever I wanted, so I chose L&D.

THAT was scary! The women literally birth on a type of dentists chair covered with a plastic bag that falls into a bucket!

I don't know why I brought that up, but I felt useless in there L&D ward. We saw lots of premies "sharing" NICU beds, and one of them had expired!

Anyway, I ended up working on a regular med-surge unit where the people really were sick. Much sicker than our patients that I have seen at home.

Why am I bringing this up? The experience gave me an appreciation for nursing in general. The nurses I met and worked with in Ghana did not participate in patient care. Patients in all of the units I went to were left alone, without any type of information. They were just happy to be in a hospital....I guess they didn't know they were getting septic there!

We spent some time talking with the nursing students. I found myself as a new RN talking about the importance of nursing and most of all about human dignity. I felt like I was standing in my teachers shoes, lecturing myself and my classmates...it was very wierd.

I am now a new RN in L&D and so-far I love it. I have questioned some things and wished that these patients would just walk, or not take the epidural. I wonder why all of the patients are in bed waiting. When I was pregnant, I was moving all the time, and I had two babies naturally, one of which was at home in the hot-tub...great story for later.

I chose to work L&D right now becuase I start midwifery school in December and I really want to have the exposure to hospital births just so I know what to expect. Ultimatley, I would like to do homebirths (not legal for CNM's here) or birthing center births, not hospital.

As far as talking to pt's about alternatives, I had an opportunity just the other day. A 16 year old came in at about 7 months gest asking about waterbirths etc...I wanted so badly to tell her about my homebirth midwife or of the birthing center nearby, but I am new and didn't know how to approach that. I just told her that there is ALOT of info on the internet about natural births in Utah.

Okay, this is a long one. I hope it helps.

Also, I can't wait to see you Frontier ladies in December. I can't even describe how happy I am to finally embark upon this long awaited journey!

wannabmidwife · Oct 9, 2008

Goozgog,

Thanks for your great response. Nursing has really lead you to different and I'm sure unexpected experiences that really seem exciting. I appreciate your response because I tend to have tunnel vision when I get an idea in my head and your experiences seem to be so varied and something that I could look forward to on my way to becoming a midwife. I'd love to do a direct entry option also but job opportunitied for non nurse midwives isn't too extent.

Lots of luck with Frontier.

Wannabmidwife

fmwf · Apr 13, 2009

This conversation is so honest. I thought I was the only one. I became a nurse only b/c of midwifery. However I could not land an L&D position for where I live. Everyone who knows me says I would make a great CNM, however floor nursing is not my calling. The two are related but not the same IMHO. I have had some L&D though not a full year. I have had Maternal/Child health experience though.

Bree124, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2009

I am also a mom of four, and last year I started a bridge program for non-nursing college graduates to get an MSN. The time and schooling is intense, but so far I really do love it - I am learning a ton, and don't regret my decision one bit.

Even though I am going into midwifery, I am very open to the option of working med-surg or another specialty while I am completing the MSN/CNM schooling. While OB clinical has been by far my favorite, I know there are other areas that interest me enough that I could do them for 2-3 years.

I have heard from some CNMs that something like ER work can actually be just as good as L&D experience - no "bad habits" to pick up, but lots of experience assessing. I hope to start L&D this summer, but if I can't get a position I know there are other areas that I would be interested to work in, even if they are not my ideal position.

travduck, BSN, RN, CNM · Apr 16, 2009

As a Nurse Midwife you will care for the entire patient and her baby. The experience and knowledge that you recieve working in other venues may help you to save a life. It will certainly help you to recognize health problem that need care. I spent multiple years in CCU and Telemetry as well as other departments, as well as time in NICU, before beginning midwifery practice. That experience allowed me to save the life of a pregnent mom and her baby by recognizing that she had a cardiac problem. True she became an MD patient after the consultation with the cardiologist but without my recognition of a problem both she and the baby would have died. I was working in labour and delivery at a small hospital and sent a patient out after a NST, 10 minutes later she was back with us having been hit broadside in her car on exiting the hospital parking lot. My experience in trauma and orthopedics came in VERY handy.

Pregnant women are first of all women (the whole person and body) and secondarily pregnant. And when something goes wrong experience in caring for "sick" people will come in handy. Remember that you will be caring for the woman, and her baby, for 8-9 months before labour and for 30 - 50 years after. You will also be caring for her newborn in the first 28 days of life - and babies too are subject to physical problems.

Hang in and good luck at Frontier - its a great place.