Specialities Survey

The OR for the past 28 years. I like the idea, now don't get me wrong, about only having to be with the patient,awake, for a short time. I worked M/S for about a year and it was great, but now I prefer my patients to go to sleep so we can explore, find the problem and fix it. Technology has gotten better and better over the years and still tends to amaze me at what we can do for patients. Even in the OR you can still specialize in areas such as Open Hearts, Neuro, Bariatric, Vascular and so on. At much larger facilities these sub-specialties are very common where the nurse spends years honing his or hers skills. Some nurses tend to think of OR nursing as a detached area of nursing since patients are usually asleep, but this is the time where the patient is the most compromised since they can't speak for themselves. This is where the OR nurse is at their best being the advocate for a helpless individual. I think if you go to all the specialties listed at allnurses, you will find threads that will answer most of your questions. Good luck, Mike

Here is my response from the OB forums to someone asking similar questions. I do hope this helps you:

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I am wondering if any OB nurse could answer a few questions for me... I am a nursing student in Georgia and have a presentation to do on OB nurses.

1) Do you enjoy your work as an OB nurse?

Yes, most days I LOVE IT.

2) What is your favorite aspect of obstetrics?

Being an intimate part of new families and lives being born is mighty powerful and inspirational for me. I love that people are touched by my care for them in the most important times of their lives---having babies is HUGE for most people. I know most never forget their birth experiences, nor their care providers. I think that is an intoxicating feeling---knowing I am part of something so big in others' lives.

3) the least favorite?

The litigiousness of the field. It's gotten to where we chart and everything we do----we do with the distinct threat of being sued or taken to court hanging over our heads. The paperwork we do is a nightmare and keeps us away from what we came into nursing to do----care for our patients! It gets worse every year.

4) Where did you get your education?

In a community college program for RN's in Oklahoma.

5) Name _________________

I prefer not to publish publically here.

6) Why did you become an OB nurse?

Because I received awesome and amazing care when I had my first child. I thought those nurses were absolutely NOBLE--I wanted to touch others' lives the very way they touched mine. So I went to nursing school with the express interest/goal of being an OB nurse.

7) Do you work in a hospital, office, etc?

I work in a hospital, LDRP (labor, delivery, recovery, postpartum) suite unit. I also care for post-operative GYN surgical patients and mildly sick neonates. Most OB nurses work in birth centers or hospitals. A few work in doctor's offices, but mostly doctors employ nurses' assistants these days.

8) Anything you can tell me about OB nursing, whether it be opinion or fact.

Think I covered that pretty well so far--------my opinion is it is THE place for me----I cannot picture myself doing anything else, except possibly being a staff educator one day.

I would really appreciate if someone would reply, please reply here or PM me and we can correspond further. Thanks, Jennifer

If you look at the top of the page there is a tab marked "Specialties" which not only gives you a great overview of what is available but most have stickies that will answer your questions.

I have been involved in several specialty areas (NICU, PICU, Emergency and Flight Nursing)

I am currently a pediatric flight nurse. I love the autonomy, the utilization of my critical thinking skills and the adrenaline rush (yeah, I'm a junkie). I don't like rarely getting off on time, never knowing if you are going to get home at all and windy days (blah!). I hate telling a parent there is nothing more we can do. As I've mentioned before I have worked many areas of nursing but this one is my bliss!