I can cross OB off my list of possible specialties. I had two days of clinical this week at our local hospital. The first day was spent following the lactation consultants. Boooooring. Boobs boobs everywhere. We visited postpartum moms to make sure they are feeding well. We had an open group session where 5 moms with babies of various ages up through 3 months came for assistance and weight checks. The rest of the day was private appointments of the same thing. Mom and sometimes Dad came in. Undress baby and weigh him. Change the diaper. Weigh him with the dry diaper. Nurse for 20 minutes on one side. Weigh him. Nurse for 15 minutes on the other side. Weigh him. Hmm, he could go for more. Nurse and weigh for anothe 30 minutes. Chat while they dress him, say good bye, and another couplet comes in. All. Day. Long. My eyes were drooping by 2 pm.
Yesterday I was in the postpartum “Mom Baby” unit. I had a good nurse who explained a lot of things and let me pass out all the medications. Unlike my med/surg unit we weren’t allow to access the pyxis drug carts or log onto computers to chart. So I spent a lot more time just observing. I did one newborn assessment and one mom assessment in a 12 hour shift. I had a whole hour where there was nothing to do so I studied class notes. I was lucky. Another student in a different MB unit read a novel for 3 hours. We’re all packing reading material now. It seems that aside from the labor and delivery unit everyone just needs to rest. I hear that Special Care Nursery (their NICU) is even more boring because you’re SUPPOSED to leave the babies alone as much as possible so they can rest, feed, grow, and be unstimulated. Even the girls in LD yesterday were bored. One was assigned to a nurse whose two patients wouldn’t let a student in. What was she supposed to do all morning??
I talked a lot to my nurse in MB about what specialties to go into (she had a marvelous Boston accent, I suppressed giggles all day). She said OB was always pretty quiet. Even in LD you just don’t get much experience. It’s just uteruses and boobs in and out all day. It would be hard to get another unit to accept you once you’re done working there. She said it was great while she had kids in school because it was so mellow, but it wouldn’t be good for new students. I noticed that most of the nurses were more laxed, doing wimpy assessments and chatting an awful lot. A bit more bumbling, forgetful, and slow. Most have been working in OB for 20+ years. I got the feeling that OB was looked upon as the easy nursing specialty. Kind of like how psychiatry is at the backend of the MD specialties (not that there’s anything wrong with psychiatry! They just don’t get much respect).
So I haven’t had my LD days yet, but I’m pretty sure OB is not for me. I want more exciting critical care.
I work as a lpn in a postpartum/nursery unit…and they keep us very busy by having us take at least 3-5 couplets (mom and baby) per shift. Between the assessment/charting and asking about poopy/peepee diapers and breastfeeding etc. they keep me very busy. I could see how it can get boring. Not sure where I will end up after my RN year. I enjoy reading your blog!
Thanks! I’m so excited to hear that I have anonymous readers. I thought only my friends and family read my blog. I’m excited to check out yours. So far every nurse I’ve encountered has told me that the quiet and boringness of my rotation is VERY unusual, that they’re thankful for these days and that it’s usually CRAZY. But I’ve heard this line from every. nurse. on. every. rotation. So what gives?