Obstetric Nursing

Obstetrical nursing, also called perinatal nursing, is a nursing specialty that works with patients who are attempting to become pregnant, are currently pregnant, or have recently delivered. Obstetrical nurses help provide prenatal care and testing, care of patients experiencing pregnancy complications, care during labor and delivery, and care of patients following delivery. Obstetrical nurses work closely with obstetricians, midwives, and nurse practitioners. They also provide supervision of patient care technicians and surgical technologists.

The gender ratio when it comes to obstetrical nursing is 3% are male and 97% are female. As well as the races for this type of nursing. The percentages are as follows, White 66.2%, Black 10.5%, Hispanic 9.5%, Asian 9%, unknown 4.3% and American Indian and Alaska Native .5%.[4]

Obstetric Nursing

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Obstetrical nurses typically start as registered nurses, so that is the first step. You need to obtain your degree or nursing diploma. An internship in obstetrics can give you all most all of the knowledge to start at an entry level position.[5] The National Certification Corporation (NCC) offers certifications for obstetrical nurses. These include RNC-OB (Inpatient Obstetrics), a certification that allows graduate nurses who have completed a bachelor's degree in the US or Canada, who want to expand into obstetrics. It is an online exam that costs around $325, and by the end of it they will gain themselves RNC-OB certificates.[6] RNC-MNN (Maternal Newborn Nursing) is another online exam that is for certified registered nurses, who have completed their bachelor's degrees in Nursing and have gained experience in the area of newborn nursing, and are wanting to gain a certification/qualification in the area. The test costs approximately $325 and they have a 90-day window to complete the actual exam[7] and C-EFM (Electronic Fetal Monitoring). This certification is also an online certification exam, for US and Canadian graduate nursing students. To do the online certification they are required to be either a licensed registered nurse, nurse practitioner, nurse midwife, physician, physician assistant, or paramedic, according to the US and Canada requirements.[8]

Bachelor's degrees in either nursing and/or midwifery are required to become an obstetrical or perinatal nurse in Australia. In Australia alone there are 32 different universities that offer nursing as an undergraduate degree, such as Australian Catholic university, Charles Darwin University and the University of Notre Dame in Australia.[9] Once completing their degree, they are required to complete their master's degree in nursing. Bachelor's degrees and jobs as licensed nurses/midwives are required in order to be accepted for the master's degree. There are 24 different universities in Australia that offer a master's degree in nursing, including Edith Cowan University, Monash University, James Cook University and University of Canberra.[10]

An obstetrics (OB) nurse is a registered nurse who helps care for female patients during pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. Obstetricians and OB nurses play an integral and unquestionably important role during this time in a woman's life. Some obstetrics nurses care for female patients and help them with reproductive health from puberty to menopause. OB/GYN nurse is a blanket term sometimes used to describe OB nurses.

OB nurses must be registered nurses and have some experience with obstetrics, gynecology, and/or labor. Many gain experience in the maternity ward of a hospital, or become trained as doulas to provide non-medical support to pregnant women until they have enough experience to become an OB nurse. A desire to help women and care for newborn babies is a must for the role.

Acquiring certification in areas such as obstetrics, gynecology, perinatal, and labor & delivery nursing can certainly help drive forward your OB/GYN nursing career. It is the NCC (National Certification Corporation) which offers the Inpatient Obstetric Nursing certification for OB nurses (also referred to as RNC-OB). Prospective applicants need to have a current RN license to be viable candidates. In addition to that, RNs need to have worked in obstetrics for 24 months and have put in, at a minimum, 2,000 hours to be viable candidates for Inpatient Obstetric Nursing certification. When RNs have passed the Inpatient Obstetric Nursing certification examination, they are then able to become fully certified obstetric nurses.

Obstetric nurse practitioners usually work in both obstetrics and gynecology. Obstetrics is the care of pregnant patients and their babies, while gynecology focuses on the overall sexual and reproductive health of women.

Employment as an OB nurse provides many opportunities for career and personal growth. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nursing field is one of the fastest growing occupations, with a growth rate projected at 16% in the coming years. OB nurses can expect to make between $62,327 and $77,548 annually, with a national average salary of approximately $68,485. However, there are a wide variety of factors that can affect the salary of an OB nurse such as the region of the country you work in and how many years of experience you have. A nurse's level of education will also make a difference. Advanced practice nurses, especially nurse practitioners in the obstetrics field can make up to $84,000 annually. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that nurse practitioners and other advanced practice nurses will be the most in-demand out of all the nursing professions in the coming decade.

OB nursing goes beyond the realm of labor and delivery nursing. These skilled professionals care for women throughout the pregnancy journey, from the initial prenatal phase (antepartum), through the labor and birthing process (intrapartum), and following delivery during the recovery period (postpartum). While they are often seen assisting in labor and delivery, the expertise and training of OB nurses encompass a much wider skill set.

Their roles are multifaceted, involving everything from screening and monitoring women's health, offering care and support to expectant mothers, assisting during labor and delivery, to caring for newborns and their mothers immediately after birth.

Working closely with obstetricians, OB nurses are a primary source of information and support for women who may have questions or concerns about their sexual health or their unborn babies. Their specialized knowledge, combined with their empathetic approach, makes them a critical component in the delivery of women's healthcare.

OB nurses work in various healthcare settings including hospitals, specifically in maternity wards or labor and delivery units, and outpatient obstetrics and gynecology clinics where they assist with routine prenatal and postnatal care. They also provide care in birthing centers, private practices of obstetricians or family physicians, and community health centers. Additionally, some OB nurses extend their services to home health care, visiting patients at home to deliver postpartum care and support.

As an Obstetrics Nurse, you can elevate your career by obtaining certification as an Inpatient Obstetrics Nurse (RNC-OB). This requires fulfilling prerequisites, like logging 2,000 hours of work experience in obstetrics over a period of 24 months before qualifying to take the certification exam.

Background: Giving birth is one of the most memorable events in a woman's life. A positive birth experience can foster women's self-worth and promote family relationship. As obstetric nurses play an important role in facilitating birth-giving experiences, it is essential to explore postpartum women's desired nursing qualities of obstetric nurses.

Results: Five themes related to preferred obstetric nurses' qualities were captured: (1) providing information, (2) performing nursing skills in competent manner, (3) demonstrating a positive attitude, (4) attending to individual needs and (5) demonstrating cultural competence.

Relevance to clinical practice: By exploring postpartum women's desired qualities of obstetric nurses, nurses will gain a better understanding in their role and the definition of competent attitudes and skills. Nurses with preferred nursing qualities can enhance professional practice and patients' experience during the postpartum period, resulting in increased patient satisfaction.

Background: Contradictory interactions between bereaved women who have experienced pregnancy loss and obstetric nursing staff are becoming increasingly prominent. The aim of the present study was to gain an understanding of how women who have experienced pregnancy loss and obstetric nursing staff perceive their interactions, what influencing factors impacted their experiences.

Finally, a total of 146 nurses were recruited in the experimental group, including 1 male and 145 females. There were 51 nurses in the control group, all of which were females. There were 3621 parturients aged 18-52 years old in the experimental group, and 927 parturients aged 19-46 years old in the control group. Overall there were 14 obstetric nursing-sensitive quality indicators which were finally included in this study (excluding two indicators, namely, continuous support for women in the delivery and the incidence of lateral perineotomy at vaginal delivery). 2351a5e196