To all New Nurses in OB

nurselsteele · Dec 19, 2008

:yeah:

Hello, I am starting Jan. 5 in OB in PP. I am excited because this is my dream job. I've worked really hard to get her, and this moment has finally arrived. I can't wait to start working, I don't know to many ppl who can say that.
I will be working full time midnights. I am writing for any advice from new nurses adjusting to either night shifts or OB. What worked for you? What did you find challenging as a new nurse in OB? Any tips at all would be greatly appreciated.
Happy Holidays!!

OB can be a challenge because of its fast paced nature, its emergencies that are not forseen until its critical, its slow paced days when you get shipped to another department to work due to low count, just be patient with the job, keep your fingers cross that you get a great preceptor.!!

I had worked in OB/Peds for a few years, had a great teacher, so i didnt struggle, but i saw alot of new nurses struggle due to their preceptor not being a good teacher... If you start to see issues with your preceptor, address them immediately! Don't wait until they get out of control. Congrats on your new position

LDR-RN · Dec 20, 2008

Thanks for the advice! Thankfully we are a closed unit, so I won't be going to other floors. One thing that this unit does that I think I will appreciate is a checklist. We get a checklist in orientation that must be completed in three months. This way all skills can be done and reviewed in this time frame. I hope this makes sure that I get to cover all aspects and at least get exposed to everything.

I've read on here that most people working midnights take some kind of sleeping pill. I didn't imagine that it was going to be that hard. I hope that I am not in for a wake up call. I am just praying that I adjust easily.

mommybess, BSN, RN · Dec 22, 2008

Congratulations! :yeah:

This is my area and I LOVE It! I started working Mother/Baby in June after I graduated in May and passed my RN-NCLEX in June. I had an 8 week preceptorship with an LVN that has been in this area of nursing for 20+ years. She was a fabulous preceptor!

If you like doing a lot of patient teaching and your good at multi-tasking, this is a terrific area of nursing for you. My typical patient load is 8 patients, usually 4 moms and 4 babies. But it can get broken up differently at times if I have a mom with twins, or a mom only, or baby only.

We can get floated to NICU for feeder/growers. We do not get floated elsewhere. If our census if low we can get put on-call. That doesn't happen that often.

I also work nights, 7pm - 7am. I LOVE nights! I was VERY worried about working this shift but it't actually a lot easier than I expected. I work my 3 days striaght. And no, I don't take sleeping pills to sleep. My typical sleeping pattern is such.

The 1st day of my 3 work nights - I get up in the morning do whatever I ened ot do at home or run errands. I go back to bed around noon - 1pm, I sleep until 3:15 when my youngest son gets home from school (btw... I have 4 sons), I am up to help him with homework and cook dinner, shower and then get ready for work. I leave the house at 6:00pm.

In the morning I am usually on my way home from work around 7:30am. I do not drink ANY caffiene after 2:00am on nights that I work. Once I am home I do some things around the house, maybe eat a light breakfast, and then head to bed until 3:15 when the evening rountine starts again. this continues until my day off.

On my first day off I sleep during the day, get up 3:15 pm or later if it's the weekend. I am then up to help with homework, cook, etc... I spend a couple hours with the family but then I usually go back to bed around 10pm to sleep until morning. By the time I get up in the morning I've sometimes slept 20 out of last 24 hours. After this I am back on a day schedule until I go back to work.

This works for me. Though I do find that my body tends to want to nap, regardless of the day, around noon time. If I am not working I just keep busy and it passes.

Anyway, congrats and welcome to Mother/Baby nursing!!!