Obstetrical Nurse Career Guide and Counseling

Question: how much money does a Obstetrical nurse make a year? my daughter is wanting to become an obstetrical nurse.

Answer: I bet it depends on seniority and the part of the country, but average income is about 54,000 a year. Here is the link with more details: http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layou… Cheers!

Question: whats a good college to attend if i want to be an obstetrical nurse? I'm still in high school but i think that's what i want to do for a living. So if anyone knows of any good colleges that would allow me to study for something like that that would be great thankss <3. would point loma nazarine be good school for that department?

Answer: I think it's great you're thinking ahead so far! (For other readers who may not know, Obstetrics covers 3 areas: Labor and Delivery, PostPartum (after delivery), and normal Newborn Nursery.) There are not special colleges to become an OB nurse. What you do is go thru the standard community college or university school of nursing. There, you'll take a semester or quarter in Mother/Baby Nursing. After graduation, apply for a position in an OB unit. Much of your further training is on the job. Typically, RN nursing schools in community colleges are about 2-3 yrs, and university will take about 4 yrs; -- both depending on how your highschool science and math grades are! The competition to get in is quite fierce, as there is a shortage of both nursing faculty and clinical places for students to practice. So keep your grades high, and pile on the sciences! (You can become an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) in about one VERY full time year, at a community college.) Then, after school, while you work, you can go on for Continuing Education units that will give certifications -- such as a specialty certifications in Labor and Delivery, or Neonatal Care, etc. You could also go on to Master's Degree and become a Certified Nurse Midwife. In the meantime -- while you are still in high school and even in college, you could go through a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program, and get a job on an OB unit as a CNA. That would not only prepare you to be a better nurse, but also would help you see whether OB is the place for you. Here are some useful sites that discuss CNA training, which is typically pretty short (12 weeks -- but varies): http://www.essortment.com/all/certifiedn… http://www.allalliedhealthschools.com/fa… http://www.nursingassistantcentral.com/B… i hope this helps! Please post again with further questions. Kathy (MSN, RN)

Question: Obstetrical Nursing Information? Well I'm think about going into that and I'm in my senior year right now so I was wondering what are the requirements for becoming an obstetrical nurse? Also what's the average salary? What schooling do you need? How long will it take to become an obstetrical nurse? And also are obstetrical or neonatal nurses better overall? Thank you! :) -Courtney

Answer: Ok are you wanting to just work in OB or do you want to do Midwife? If you want to be just an OB nurse, then all you need to do is become an RN. If you want to become a Midwife, then you need to become a RN, then get a MSN then specialize. Hope this helps

Question: Question about nursing and nursing school ? OK I am looking forward to go to school for nursing. I would like to be an obstetrical nurse and be able to care for patients while in labor, pushing and post partum. I would like no limitations in what I can do but I don't care about writing prescriptions. Can someone tell me what kind of degree I will need and a little about nursing school if you've gone? Also if you are an obstetrical nurse a little about your job?

Answer: You need to be a Registered Nurse to work in Labor & Delivery, which can be obtained with either an Associate's Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor's of Science or Arts in Nursing (BSN or BAN). Either one makes you eligible for licensure as an RN. BSN grads are often "preferred" in hospitals, but in most places the ADN degree is just fine for starting out and you can complete the BSN at a later time if you choose. In nursing school they train you in a variety of settings and you will have clinical rotations caring for mothers and newborns and will likely have an observation-only experience in L&D. Once you are licensed as an RN, you can try to get into L&D right away as a new grad, but some birth centers will prefer you have at least a year of experience working in a hospital setting doing patient care (doesn't matter what area, but medical / surgical units are a good place to start). Most of your education specific to the job of L&D is provided by the employer and your orientation process is lengthy, combining both classroom learning and preceptoring on the units with an experienced RN. At my hospital I am trained in high risk OB, caring for pregnant women on hospitalized bedrest for various conditions, I also work L&D, and postpartum. But generally at my hospital you are trained to one or two areas where you have your "home" unit. Some smaller hospitals the nurses do all three areas and work wherever there is staffing needs. For the most part it's a very happy job, unlike many other areas of nursing where you are around the sick, the elderly, etc. Pregnant women are usually relatively self-sufficient and don't need a ton of time and attention. Laboring a patient is nice because you usually only have one patient to focus on and you get to know them well during your shift. Postpartum it's not unusual to care for 4 mom-baby couplets (meaning essentially you have 8 patients total that need assessing and caring for). Working in high risk I see more than the average number of complications, including stillborn babies, extremely premature babies, babies with congenital defects, etc. It can be very emotionally difficult at times. But there is also great spiritual satisfaction attending to these patients, and I find great meaning in my work caring for these families. Good luck!