What do you do?

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jun 10, 2008

Depends on where you work.

If you work in an ob/gyn office, you will likely be assisting with pap smears, prenatal checkups, etc.

If you work in a hospital, you might work in labor & delivery which is I think what you are talking about when you ask if we deliver babies. If you want to get technical about it (which you might not :)) it is the woman who delivers her own baby; the docs (and occasionally the nurses) just catch him.

Or you might work in postpartum, which is what we call the care after women have delivered their babies, with the nursery nurse being the one who takes care of matters pertaining to the babies. Some floors are mother/baby floors which is the case where the same nurse takes care of the mother and the baby as a couplet.

My floor is a mix of both. Labor and delivery is separately staffed and managed. Then the mother/baby nurses are cross trained between mother/baby and nursery so we can do either. The charge nurse in the nursery is responsible for following up on any problems with any of the babies and contacting the pediatrician if necessary, and then communicating new orders back to the floor nurse.

We also have high-risk antepartums - that is, pregnancies in which a problem occurs that necessitates Mom's staying in the hospital for a period of time. They go to labor & delivery for a period of monitoring, and once they are stabilized come to the floor. So we do fetal monitoring on those women as well.

If you are interested in this field, I'm sure there exists something you will enjoy doing. :)

indiawhitaker · Jun 10, 2008

I enjoy the pap smears & prenatal check ups.

That's what I would enjoy doing.

That or pediatric nursing or maybe even oncology nursing.

IDK! lol

bagladyrn, RN · Jun 10, 2008

India - You might want to talk to someone at your local hospital in the human resource or education dept. and see if there is any way that you could "shadow" nurses in various departments this summer to get a good idea of what the various jobs entail and help you decide which may interest you. They may even have some kind of volunteer program that you might be interested in.

Good luck - and continue to ask questions!

casi, ASN, RN · Jun 10, 2008

Don't worry about choosing a specialty quite yet. Once you get into nursing school and get onto the floors in clinicals you'll get a much better idea of what you want to do.

The OB floor in the hospital I work does the baby catching, but also takes surgical patients like hysterectomies.

RhodyGirl, RN · Jun 12, 2008

A specialty shouldn't be chosen until you've graduated, passed NCLEX, and received some hospital experience first. I know of some nurses who have gotten right into a specialty as a new grad, but you'll find that this is less common.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jun 12, 2008

I hope this thread has shed some light for you, IW.

I agree that it's way too early for you to box yourself into a specialty, though it's certainly great that you have at least an idea. That said, keep your eyes and mind open for other things you might like. :) Good luck.

smbmlt · Jun 13, 2008

We had the option to pick any dept. for our preceptorship, and we were to include the 40 hours mandatory in med-surg. Mine was, med-surg as my primary and then I split my other with L&D and Nursery. This way it gives you more options to think about and which career path you might want to consider. This also helps the supervisor know that you had a little experince in that department.

RNmommy · Jun 13, 2008

A specialty shouldn't be chosen until you've graduated, passed NCLEX, and received some hospital experience first. I know of some nurses who have gotten right into a specialty as a new grad, but you'll find that this is less common.

That is pretty far from true these days. I graduated 5 years ago in a class of over 60. I think 3 went to med-surg while the rest of us went straight to our specialty. Many hospitals take new grads in all specialty areas.

RhodyGirl, RN · Jun 13, 2008

That is pretty far from true these days. I graduated 5 years ago in a class of over 60. I think 3 went to med-surg while the rest of us went straight to our specialty. Many hospitals take new grads in all specialty areas.

Not true in my area. I know many nurses who have graduated and tried to get into NICU, ED, etc and could not do so until they had at minimum one year of medsurg experience. I didn't say it couldn't happen, it's just not as common. The reason I said this is because the OP is still in high school and has not even started prereqs or any of that yet.

Good luck OP.

CMCRN · Jun 18, 2008

What does a OB-Gyn nurse actually do???
I am confused.
Do you just deliver babies?
Are there different parts to Ob-Gyn Nursing?
When I went to my OB-Gyn, she had a nurse & she came in there while I got a pap smear done & helped out......is that what you do?
Help me understand because I'm trying to choose a specialty.

You might want to investigate being a Medical Assistant. They are usually the ones in the offices, not RNs. This is a shorter program and you could work while you continued with school if you wanted.