What do Masters Degree Prepared nurses do in L&D??

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Hi Everyone!

Well, to start off, I am a nursing student about to enter my senior year in a very rigorous BSN program. I absolutely hated nursing and still had intentions of going to med school in the future (that idea is still in the back of my head), but when I had my "Women's Health" Clinical, I completely fell in love with Labor and Delivery! I never thought I was the "maternal" type, I was (and still am) kind of grossed out by the idea of lady partsl exams, and thought I wouldn't be able to handle caring for both mommies and babies, but I saw how great the labor and delivery RNs are, and truly enjoyed the whole experience!! I did some research (found some great info here on allnurses) and learned that L&D is not just happy times playing with babies. Before wanting to do L&D I was interested in ER nursing, so now I am even more drawn to OB knowing that the element of urgency is very common. On top of all of that, my professor for my Women's Health course who has her CNS Masters degree in women's health, was by far the most inspiring teacher I have ever had in my academic career. I certainly plan on going to graduate school after gaining some nursing experience, and am seriously considering getting a Masters Degree related to OB/GYN/L&D.

Unfortunately, I did not really get a full grasp on what an advanced practice nurse would do on the Labor and Delivery floor. In my clinicals, the RNs did pretty much everything, and the OB MD's would come in just for the final delivery. I never saw any Masters prepared nurses on the floor. I heard some pretty amazing stories from my professor, but she mainly works in nursing education, which is not what I am interested in. I was wondering if anyone can give me a better idea of what a nurse would do in L&D with a Masters Degree??

Thank you very much!!

:heartbeat -ACMSN1012 :heartbeat

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Specializes in Mother Baby & pre-hospital EMS.

You may want to check out the field of nurse-midwifery. :) These days, most (if not all) nurse-midwives have gone through a MSN program.

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I would recommend nurse midwifery as well. I have been looking into this myself. There are many CNM programs available, many of them online. Some schools give admission preference to those w/ L&D experience. As a midwife, you are serving as a practitioner. Come to think of it, I have seen dual degree programs for midwifery & women's health together.

Another option would be a research career.

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Nurse midwife or women's health practitioner. Nurse midwives take care of women with low-risk deliveries, see them throughout pregnancy and L&D, the the focus is on treating birth as a normal natural event, not a medical event. CNM's and NPs also see women of all ages for gyn appts.

I had CNMs for 3 of my 4 sons' births and absolutely loved them! I would be going into it myself if I was only 10 years younger...

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Thanks everyone!! Midwifery does sound interesting, but I am more interested in participating in the birthing process in a hospital-setting, with use of medicine and in all situations (low-risk, high-risk, etc.). I don't mean to offend anybody -- birth is the most personal of experiences and it is truly wonderful that there is such a wide variety of methods and resources that allow women to experience birthing to their preference and comfort. Nonetheless, I will look into Midwifery and consider other options as well. I am still open to suggestions, please let me know if you have any other ideas!

Thank you :)

-ACMSN1012

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Actually, lots of midwives work in hospitals actually covering for the physician. Sometimes they assist without the mother even knowing that the midwife IS a midwife. They are just another practitioner in the office. How holistic you are in your practice is up to you.

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Nurse midwives DO work in hospitals. I used one for the birth of my daughter. I will continue to use them over obgyns.

She does everything an obgyn does but c-sections. Nurse midwives are not all homebirth mother earth types. She was a non-alarmist, laid back, answered all questions patiently, fully supported the epidural, and I am convinced I didn't tear because she was SO DAMN good at he job. She was awesome.

Nothing against the midwives that are all about natural homebirths and whatnot, but they are not all like that. I plan to continue my education with a nurse midwife masters as soon as possible.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I am a CRNA and I worked in a L&D unit for 2 years. I did spinals and epidurals for laboring moms and anesthesia for c sections. I also worked with many CNMs (certified nurse midwives). They were masters prepared advance practice nurses who provided all aspects of prenatal care including delivery. They were great to work with and had a lot of autonomy. They did not do c sections but many times scrubbed in to assist the OB. our facility hospital over 3,000 babies per year and I would guess the midwives delivered at least 30-40 percent of the babies.

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My midwife delivered my son in the hospital! I wanted a midwife bc they take more time w thierry patients but still wanted drugs!!! I think you should look into it! Iau do that in the future but I just got into nursing school!!!

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