What career path to take???

[NurseB_, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone,

I'm a senior nursing student but I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do when I get done with nursing school. I love to have my life planned out as much as possible and with so many opportunities in nursing it's hard at times lol. I've heard so many different opinions on where a new grad should work. I've heard a lot of people say to work on a Med-Surg, ER or ICU floor so that I can get a lot of experience and if I can handle that I can do anything. Others have said it really doesn't matter as long as they hire you for the position. I'm 95% sure I want to work with women preferably pregnant ones and that's why I've wanted to do L&D nursing. I would like to start off in this department. Is this a good idea? Will I be completely lost starting off in this area? Will I lose all of my previous knowledge that I've learned in nursing school. I've heard that L&D is so different from every other department and many of the patients are healthy so it's not a good "challenge." I've always been interested in women giving birth and my future plans is to become a Certified Nurse Midwife and possibly also a WHNP. I'm just trying to get some ideas in my head since graduation is slowly but surely approaching. Also, how much experience should I get to be most successful in a graduate program?

Thanks!!

[Tait, MSN, RN]

I think if you are passionate about L&D, especially with plans to go into Midwifery you should definitely look into L&D! I had a very poor clinical rotation in L&D (as in a four week rotation was cut to 3 because my instructor had to birth her cat!), but at 37 weeks pregnant I really don't think there is anything not "challenging" about it. As the gestating population gets older, more and more co-morbidities are coming into the arena. This means not only are mom's coming in to complete the very dangerous task of birth, but also competing with pre-e, diabetes, placental abnormalities and infections.

I say go for where your heart is. :)

Best of luck!

Tait

PS. Not sure what to tell you about the graduate program experience. I know when I left school they told us "you won't feel like a real nurse for about two years" and for me my confidence really didn't solidify until then.

[NurseB_, BSN, RN]

Thanks for your input!! :)

L&D is definately my passion but I would like to get some experience in it before I graduate and possibly take a job to make 100% sure. I'm planning on applying for an extern position in August and that's what I plan to do my last 2 semesters of nursing school.

[A&OxNone, MSN, RN]

No matter what unit you work on, you will learn nursing skills (assessment, priorities, ect), so dont NOT do it because you think it's limiting yourself.

Also, think about this..... if thats the direction you want your career to go, does it really matter if it IS limiting yourself?!

My only concern would be actually getting a job in that area right out of school. You need to network like crazy and show them you are a really, REALLY good student nurse so they will be willing to give you a chance. I dont know about where you are, but L&D positions in my area are hard to come by - people that work in that area stay in that area, so not many jobs come open.

[cbcle]

As a L&D nurse, almost every time you work you get experience as an OR nurse scrubbing or circulating, you start IVs, you start foleys, you give mag, you do infant assessments, you deal with diabetes, hypertension, neonatal resuscitation, you see PICC lines, you do PACU, you do patient teaching, help breastfeed, you do tons! The breadth and depth of knowledge that you acquire as a L&D nurse is vastly underestimated. L&D is a great opportunity to keep up your medsurg skills and be in a specialty area that you're passionate about at the same time. Go for it!

[NurseB_, BSN, RN]

Ok Ok I understand a lot more!! I'm not as nervous about starting my L&D career right away anymore. I LOVE how cbcle put it!! Thanks for the encouragement!! I've been getting all of my schooling paid for by my home town's hospital as a service cancellable loan. They are going to pay for all 4 years of schooling if I agree to work for them for 4 years. I'm still up in the air about giving all 4 years back, but how everyone is saying the job market is I think I might. I will be glad to have a job waiting for me when I get out of school. I was hoping to get a L&D position at that hosptial even though it's a small department and I have a few connections there and if not I wanted to try either Med-Surg or ER. I was thinking that I might be able to get a PRN position at a hospital nearby so that I can still get that experience too. How does that sound? Would that be to overwhelming to have positions in two different departments? How exactly does a PRN position work?

Thanks for all your help you guys!! :redpinkhe

[A&OxNone, MSN, RN]

Usually places wont hire you PRN unless you have a year of experience, simply because you dont get that full time, weeks of orientation you would if you were full time in the department, and they need you to have a good foundation of nursing skills so they can just quickly train you and call you up if they need you.

You MAY find an exception to that - not saying that's ALWAYS the case, but I know in my area, some hospitals have that rule and stick by it completely.

PRN is basically where you dont commit to a certain amount of hours, you just pick hours as when they need it.

[NurseB_, BSN, RN]

Wow I didn't know that! It seems like to get the positions you really want you have to get that experience. I guess that's not a bad thing though. I guess I will just have to see what comes available and weigh my options as the come.