Would you consider this false advertisement??

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New grad nurse here I applied for a labor and delivery position at a local hospital. L&D was something I really fell in love with during school. During my interview I was told this is actually a “mixed unit”meaning peds, gyn patients, postpartum and labor and delivery. Is it a bad sign they advertised as L&D but in fact are a multi specialty unit. I feel like it was a bit of false advertisement just to get people to apply? Do other units do this that are not strictly L&D? Should I stay away?
 

TIA ?

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Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.

No, it’s not a bad sign. It might be a sign they either need a few more folks c L&D experience or some who don’t have any but might like to ease into L&D or could be eased in, as in “new grad c no experience yet.”
What would make you think there was something to run away from? Why attribute this to “false advertising”? 

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

No, it's not a bad sign, nor is it false advertising. It just means that their L&D census is such that they can't sustain the unit on JUST L&D. It's actually a very good model for lower census units. Better that than the alternative, which is that the L&D nurses float to med/surg or other areas of the hospital, which is a LOT worse for nurse job satisfaction. It's also a lot safer to do it this way and have more patients on the unit, rather than have only one or two patients and have just a skeleton crew of nurses, which can be disastrous when you have a 26-week abruption walk through the door.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Most L/D units have crazy highs and lows in census. Particularly in smaller, community hospitals, some things are bound to happen. You may be called off not to work d/t low census (using PTO if you have it to get paid). You may be floated to another unit (this was the case in one hospital where I worked). OR you will have a mix of patients on units that have empty beds. In one hospital, we had to take "clean" patients that other units normally would house, (but are full or short on staff)---- when we had the beds.

It has nothing at all to do with false advertising. This is the nature of L/D, especially in smaller hospitals.

It's up to you whether you want to chase that dream and all the downsides, or pass entirely. L/D can be rough. It also can be very rewarding.

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Specializes in High-Risk OB.

As a new grad, it would behoove you to learn as much as you can on a unit like this. Taking patients who present with a myriad of conditions that belong on the entire spectrum of OB/GYN can only increase your knowledge base. I do not consider it a false advertisement and I do see it as an EXCELLENT learning oppurtunity. I hope this helps, good luck and congratulations!

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