Stressed and overwhelmed!! New L&D nurse.

babyktchr, BSN, RN · Dec 13, 2012

you are COMPLETELY normal in how you are feeling. i was a seasoned nurse when i made the switch to OB and felt the exact same way. there is a LOT to learn and its going to take you a while to find your groove and feel comfortable and competent. Then one day, you will have the AH HA moment and things will fall into place. allow yourself time to learn. its frustrating going backwards for a while, but worth it. good luck

Donnuh · Dec 13, 2012

Thank you for your input. The encouragement gives me hope. Some day I will get it like how I finally got med surg. :yes: How long did it take for you to feel comfortable?

CharlotteRN12 · Dec 13, 2012

I am also just eight weeks into my training on a VERY busy L&D unit. I feel like I am starting to "get it" finally. But my disclaimer is that every pt and their experience is different. So just when I think I'm finally feeling competent...something new happens and then I feel incompetent again. The nurses on my unit say it will take a good year to feel comfortable again. I am looking forward to that:) GOOD LUCK TO YOU! Hang in there:)

itsnowornever, BSN, RN · Dec 13, 2012

I am also just eight weeks into my training on a VERY busy L&D unit. I feel like I am starting to "get it" finally. But my disclaimer is that every pt and their experience is different. So just when I think I'm finally feeling competent...something new happens and then I feel incompetent again. The nurses on my unit say it will take a good year to feel comfortable again. I am looking forward to that:) GOOD LUCK TO YOU! Hang in there:)

Same here. We have days where we have zero patients and I can ask all the questions I want, and depending on who is there that day they will draw me pictures and find ways for me to "see" what they are saying. On busy days when I can tie it all together I feel great, but then there are days where I sit back and say "WHAT just happened?!?!?!?"....and I feel like it's day 1 and I can't put a toco on to save my life! I'm switching to nights in January (will still be on orientation, but more of a "relaxed" orientation) and while I"m nervous, I feel good enough to be ok with it. (I HATE working day shift, I can't get up that early....no way!)

Donnuh · Dec 14, 2012

What are your patients to nurse ratio? We have 2 to 1 patient ratio. I have to learn how to triage too because we will being doing that after a year of experience. I also have to learn how to circulate for c-section. Right now I am even having difficulting reading fhr strips lol. Are nights a little bit calmer?

Donnuh · Dec 14, 2012

accident repost sorry.

itsnowornever, BSN, RN · Dec 14, 2012

What are your patients to nurse ratio? We have 2 to 1 patient ratio. I have to learn how to triage too because we will being doing that after a year of experience. I also have to learn how to circulate for c-section. Right now I am even having difficulting reading fhr strips lol. Are nights a little bit calmer?

We do triage all day, our ratios are supposed to be 2:1 but can often get up to 4:1. They paid for a basic FHR class which is INVALUABLE I recommend going to one! Also get your NRP it calms you down dealing with the babies. I have to schedule my circulating training in feb or march. They say nights are better because none of the OBs wanna deliver at night, but it happens. We had a three day stretch where as soon as we delivered one another was walking in and that carried through the night too :/ so we'll see!!!!