I’m a RN/BSN with no hospital experience. I want to work in labor & delivery. How can I get into this unit? I’ve been a RN since 2008.

I would suggest contacting the nurse manager at your local hospital to see if they offer shadowing programs. Be up front with your goals and tell them you would like to gain as much insight into L&D as possible. This is also a good chance for you to make sure this is the path you want to take.

There Are specific hospitals that have an internship program that give you extended training to become in labor and delivery nurse. If you’ve never worked in a hospital at all you may need to start with MedSurg or at least the mother baby unit which is the postpartum unit. Often times labor and delivery interns come from that unit so they have some hospital experience which helps with prioritizing and organization.

I started in med/surg, the experience was very valuable when I applied to L&D night shift.