Towards a career in labour and delivery. Words of wisdom PLEASE!!

RNLaborNurse4U · Oct 29, 2006

It's perfectly normal to be nervous and even ambivalent about a new position/field in nursing.

Some specific questions that you could ask about the nurse-manager (if this is what she's looking for)....How long have you been the manager at that L&D? What experience did you come to that unit with - background in management, background in bedside nursing? Do you help out on the unit when it's busy, and extra nursing staff is needed? What are your expectations for a new nurse/new grad on the unit? What kind of preceptor/orientation process have you formulated for your new nurses/new grads (matching up of preceptor to orientee...lenght of orientation)? How do you evaluate each new nurses progress during orientation? How are annual reviews/evaluations done....peer review versus management review?

Other general unit/staffing questions...... how many births do you have per month? How many doctors/midwives work in the unit? How large is your nursing staff? How many beds does the unit have? Are they LDR or LDRP rooms? Do you do c/s on the unit, or do they go off to the main OR? Does the nursing staff on the unit staff the c/s, or do other OR staff come up to do them? Do you have onsite anesthesiologists, or do they need to come in from home? What is your c/s rate? What is your epidural rate? How long do the majority of the nurses work on the unit? (x number of years....if they're there for many years, it shows it's a great unit for nurses) How is scheduling done (self scheduling, versus someone else makes up the schedule)? Are shifts flexible, done on a rotating basis, etc? Does the unit have self-governance? Are policies and protocols clearly spelled out on the unit? Who is the chief of obstetrics? The chief of neonatalogy? How does your chain of command work? What opportunies does the unit present the nurses for continuing medical/nursing education? Do they have a nursing ladder....where you work up to higher levels of nursing in the unit?

These are just some I thought of, off the top of my head.

The more questions you come prepared with to the interview, the better. It shows your genuine interest in the unit, and will help make you stand out in the mind of the manager when it comes time for her to make hiring decisions.

SHOW ENTHUSIASM! Discuss about how L&D was your favorite rotation in school, and that you are excited to learn how to be a great L&D nurse. Be positive...show confidence in your ability to learn new things...because you will learn a whole new world of information and nursing skills...things they do not teach you in nursing school. The unit will be making sure that you receive all certifications needed to work there - neonatal resusc, CPR renewal, fetal monitoring, etc. as part of your orientation process. But you can also ask about how these are done as well...either on the unit, or at outside sources/classes, etc. (ex: my fetal monitoring course was a 2 day seminar at another hospital, paid for by my hospital....it was recommended, but not required. I grabbed the chance to go take it...and the unit paid for it too!)

IslandtrainedRN · Oct 29, 2006

That is fantastic information. Thank you so so much!