What did you do during your OB rotation?

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Just wondering the types of experiences different students had. What did you see? What were you assigned? Anything hands on or mostly just observing?

I watched a lady partsl birth and also a C-section. Got to take care of the baby and mom the day after the C-section and I will never forget it. The family took a picture of me with the baby and emailed it to me. :)

Hi

Just wanted to say that in our school we were not allow to give any contact information to our patients..

In my OB rotation we all got to see a lady partsl delivery and a c - section..however, it was more observing we didnt touch the mom or baby..

We did care of the mom in post partum but not the baby..

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I did my rotation at a very large teaching hospital... so there was not an "OB" floor. There was antepartum, labor and delivery, post-partum, nursery and NICU that were all separate. Well, the nursery was part of the post-partum floor but the others were all separate. We were based on the post-partum floor and everyone had a day in antepartum, labor and delivery and the NICU. The goal was to see one lady partsl birth and one C-section. I saw three C-sections- one scheduled, one semi-urgent and one emergent- and one lady partsl birth. The emergent C-section happened during my day in the NICU and the nurse I was following was called to the birth as the mother was hemorrhaging and it was a twin delivery. C-sections are the freakiest things ever. To see the lady partsl birth, I had to go in for an extra shift on a Friday evening... I'm still not sure why I agreed to that.

I found post partum to be boring but we did get to spend a decent amount of time in the nursery feeding babies, giving shots to both mom and baby (vitamin K and hep B vaccines to baby, Rhogam to mom if indicated), giving newborn baths and participating in newborn assessments with the neonatologist. Actually, I remember one particular day- my baby was a classic case of macrosomia. The MD had a medical student with him and was asking her what she thought the cause of macrosomia was... she went around in circles "ummm... the baby could be edematous? The baby is retaining fluid?" Then he finally looked at me and said "do you know?" "Hmm... could it be that the mother is diabetic?"

So, all in all, I guess my experience was better than most.

Residents in this area can be dense. I had a resident in NICU trying to figure out a med math problem for 15 min. I had it done in my head in 30 seconds. Dr got tired of waiting, asked if I knew and I spurt out the answer. Pitted us against each other for a second question, again, I had it inside of 30 seconds and she took forever, had the wrong answer too. I think they are sleep deprived (or so I tell myself)

Posting from my phone, ease forgive my fat thumbs! :)

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Specializes in L&D.

Observed vag/csection births, Assisted the nurse with tocos, checked strips, assisted mom when getting epidural, assisted anesthesia, hmm, I got to do a cervical check also. We also got to assist with newborn assessments/baths/shots, post partum assessments, meds, etc. We did NOT hang any Pitocin(we aren't allowed to)

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My OB rotation was divided into three different parts: postpartum, L&D, and neonatal.

I spent three days in a postpartum unit, and we were assigned our own patients, similar to our regular med/surg clinicals, only these patients had different needs since they had just given birth. We did assessments, some patient education, gave some vaccines, etc.

L&D was mostly observation, but I liked it. I only got to witness one lady partsl birth, but some other students got to see a c-section. We were basically assigned a nurse, and followed her around and watched what she did. We also spent a lot of time trying to learn how to read and interpret the monitors that were at the nurse's station.

Then for neonatal, we got to go to the nursery and help those nurses. I fed babies, cleaned their diapers, did neonatal assessments, and then helped bring them to their mothers. We did a good bit of patient education on those days too, like discussing the benefits of breastfeeding. We also had to wheel around a tv and bring it into each of the mom's rooms and have them watch a video, I think it had something to do with infant safety. I also got to give an IM injection to a baby that was less than a day old. Some people went and watched some babies get circumcised.

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Specializes in L&D.

Oh I forgot, but we also did IV sticks on babies, fed them/diapered them, assessments, etc. I loved it

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

In a way, I was lucky. I got to do the OB rotation twice. Also, I got to see 4 cesarean sections, 2 lady partsl births, put in a couple of Foley catheters, lots of "eyes and thighs", toco and FHR monitoring, got to hang some antibiotics and IV primary bags (we don't to the actual IV sticks until 4th Semester), newborn screens, feeding, changing, burping, & bathing of newborns, lots of colace...

I spent time on the following units: High Risk Maternity (Antepartum), Labor & Delivery, NICU, and Postpartum.

I got to assist with discharge of patients out of the hospital, and did LOTS of teaching on HRM and PP units...

Some of my classmates weren't all that comfy with babies at the start of the whole experience and ended up being fairly comfortable with them. Me? I was amazed that I still remember how to change diapers after quite a few years... and I'm still not grossed out about mec...

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

L&D = assigned to one laboring mother. I got to observe one lady partsl birth and cleaned up mom afterward, and I observed one c-section birth and cleaned up baby afterward plus did a newborn assessment.

I also hung out with laboring moms who didn't end up delivering before my shift was over, and did things like observe FHT monitors, straight catheterization, reposition FHT pucks, observe an epidural, assist to tub/toilet, change IV fluid bags and drip rates, etc.

Mother-Baby Unit = assigned to one or two couplets, depending on acuity. For post-C-section moms, I did post-op vitals and shift vitals, applied ice packs to the incision area, assisted with getting out of bed/getting cleaned up, medication administration, Foley removal, I&Os, and assessments. For lady partsl delivery moms I did shift vitals, assessments, and medication administration.

For babies, I did assessments, vitals, I&Os, and any babycare the parents didn't want to do / were unable to do.

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Specializes in ER trauma, ICU - trauma, neuro surgical.

L and D was kinda boring. I just observed. Neonatal was great though. They are so cute and they don't ask you to heat up the chicken broth or fetch them socks.

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I just had my last clinical in OB today. In all, I saw a c-section, tubal ligation, got to put in my first foley, and took care of a 25 weeker in the NICU. It was the best rotation!

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Specializes in ED.

I did a whole lot of nothing for my L&D rotation. My patient was in labor but did not give birth before I went home. I just looked at a lot of fetal heart rates and watched her get an epidural. Post-partum was more of the same. I didn't do a whole lot, aside from spend a lot of time just chatting with my patient as she was a student at my school, in a different program.

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