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Pros & Cons of Postpartum Nursing...
So now I am rethinking considering taking a job in postpartum nursing. (I know, I go back and forth on what I want like every day). So, assuming I decide I need to take a nursing job after I graduate, what would be better: postpartum nursing, or med-surg (aka adult health, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc) nursing? Labor & Delivery is totally out -- I tried it for a month-long internship and it was more heartbreaking than I could bear -- I just could not live with myself, and despite restraint would learn the wrong way of doing things, and plus I'd probably get fired :) Here are what I think would be the pros and cons of PP nursing...
PROS
- I would gain valuable assessment skills. I would get really good at assessing lochia, palpating the fundus, identifying barriers to successful breastfeeding, etc. In other words, I would be gaining skills than actually pertain to midwifery! (Although med-surg experience would pertain to the "womb to tomb" philosophy).
- I would learn how to manage a postpartum hemorrhage. And while it's often true that a hemorrhage is treated differently in the hospital than it is at home, the point is I would learn to recognize hemorrhage, and know when to take action.
- I would get to do a LOT of patient teaching. All new moms have the same basic needs regardless of their birth setting: the need for information, the need for reassurance, the need for confidence in their mothering skills. I would get to educate families all about nursing, baby-wearing, diapering, SIDS, circumcision, infant sleep, bonding, and on & on.
- Postpartum nursing is much more my kind of pace as compared to med-surg nursing. Healthy moms, healthy babies. I am not an adrenaline junkie, so even though med-surg is not the ER or an ICU (Lord, I can't imagine working in an ICU or the ER! I would be so freaked out and on edge all the time!), it's much more crazy/fast-paced/unpredictable than postpartum is.
- Most people give birth in the hospital. Many of my future clients will have experienced hospital births. I think it would be beneficial to me to have experience in hospital birth policies and politics, and for those who plan to have future hospital births, how to "get around the system."
- I think legislators will find it more impressive for a postpartum nurse (aka someone who is knowledgeable in women's health) to support midwifery and homebirth than a med-surg nurse (aka someone who may not know anything about pregnancy and birth.) The title of being a postpartum nurse brings additional credibility.
- I like working with women and babies much more than I like working with wrinkly whiny old men. Ha!
- When you're having a bad day, you can pick up a baby and everything is so much better :)
CONS
- I fear I would learn the WRONG way of doing a lot of things, the medicalized versions, and that this would impede my growth as a midwife. I fear moral conflict!
- I worry that I would be asked/required to do things that I cannot morally tolerate. While there isn't much (a relative term) in postpartum I disagree with, at Columbia Regional the RNs rotate between postpartum and the well-baby nursery. And that's the part that worries me -- poking and prodding babies with needles, giving breastfed babies formula, assisting with circumcisions?! God, how COULD I???
- I believe that to some degree, you are a product of your environment. When I was doing my internship, I caught myself adopting a little of the mindset of some of the other nurses..."Man, this labor is taking sooo long! Can't we up the Pit?" Or "Dang it, stop moving in bed! I'm tired of readjusting the EFM!" And then I'd immediately catch and scold myself for thinking such things! But is it just a matter of time before you become "one of them?" I fear becoming indoctrinated.
Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this matter...thanks!
PROS
- I would gain valuable assessment skills. I would get really good at assessing lochia, palpating the fundus, identifying barriers to successful breastfeeding, etc. In other words, I would be gaining skills than actually pertain to midwifery! (Although med-surg experience would pertain to the "womb to tomb" philosophy).
- I would learn how to manage a postpartum hemorrhage. And while it's often true that a hemorrhage is treated differently in the hospital than it is at home, the point is I would learn to recognize hemorrhage, and know when to take action.
- I would get to do a LOT of patient teaching. All new moms have the same basic needs regardless of their birth setting: the need for information, the need for reassurance, the need for confidence in their mothering skills. I would get to educate families all about nursing, baby-wearing, diapering, SIDS, circumcision, infant sleep, bonding, and on & on.
- Postpartum nursing is much more my kind of pace as compared to med-surg nursing. Healthy moms, healthy babies. I am not an adrenaline junkie, so even though med-surg is not the ER or an ICU (Lord, I can't imagine working in an ICU or the ER! I would be so freaked out and on edge all the time!), it's much more crazy/fast-paced/unpredictable than postpartum is.
- Most people give birth in the hospital. Many of my future clients will have experienced hospital births. I think it would be beneficial to me to have experience in hospital birth policies and politics, and for those who plan to have future hospital births, how to "get around the system."
- I think legislators will find it more impressive for a postpartum nurse (aka someone who is knowledgeable in women's health) to support midwifery and homebirth than a med-surg nurse (aka someone who may not know anything about pregnancy and birth.) The title of being a postpartum nurse brings additional credibility.
- I like working with women and babies much more than I like working with wrinkly whiny old men. Ha!
- When you're having a bad day, you can pick up a baby and everything is so much better :)
CONS
- I fear I would learn the WRONG way of doing a lot of things, the medicalized versions, and that this would impede my growth as a midwife. I fear moral conflict!
- I worry that I would be asked/required to do things that I cannot morally tolerate. While there isn't much (a relative term) in postpartum I disagree with, at Columbia Regional the RNs rotate between postpartum and the well-baby nursery. And that's the part that worries me -- poking and prodding babies with needles, giving breastfed babies formula, assisting with circumcisions?! God, how COULD I???
- I believe that to some degree, you are a product of your environment. When I was doing my internship, I caught myself adopting a little of the mindset of some of the other nurses..."Man, this labor is taking sooo long! Can't we up the Pit?" Or "Dang it, stop moving in bed! I'm tired of readjusting the EFM!" And then I'd immediately catch and scold myself for thinking such things! But is it just a matter of time before you become "one of them?" I fear becoming indoctrinated.
Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this matter...thanks!