How to Become a Labor and Delivery Nurse

A degree may open the door to a variety of opportunities and diverse career paths. The degree programs offered at CTU will not necessarily lead to the featured careers. This collection of articles is intended to help inform and guide you through the process of determining which level of degree and types of certifications align with your desired career path.

To become a Traveling Nurse, either an associate degree in nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is required. It's also required to become licensed. This can be done by passing the NCLEX-RN exam.

A labor and delivery nurse is a specialized registered nurse (RN) who supports women during and after the birthing process. L&D nurses provide both medical assistance—such as fetal heartrate monitoring and labor progression assessments—and emotional support to expectant/new mothers. In this article, we explore in more detail what they do and how to become one, including labor and delivery nurse education, licensing and other requirements.

The Role of a Labor and Delivery Nurse

Registered nurses (RNs) provide direct care, education, advice and emotional support to patients and their families.¹ Registered nurses who work with expectant mothers during labor, delivery and the first few hours after birth are known as labor and delivery nurses.

Some typical duties that RNs perform include assessing patient conditions, recording patient medical histories and symptoms, administering treatments, or helping to perform diagnostic tests.¹ In the context of labor and delivery nursing, this means assessing the condition of both mother and baby, monitoring contractions, monitoring the fetal heartrate, inserting IVs, and providing postpartum support immediately following delivery.

In general, RNs should be compassionate, communicative, emotionally stable and organized, among other qualities.¹ For L&D nurses, this could mean empathizing with women who may be experiencing intense physical or emotional pain, providing encouragement to women (or their partner) during labor, staying calm during unexpected emergencies (such as an unplanned C-section), or being able to care for multiple patients who are at different stages of the birth process.

How to Become a Registered Nurse (RN)

Before you can become a labor and delivery nurse, you must first become an RN. Pursuing RN licensure involves several steps.

Step 1. Satisfy Education Requirements

There are several different educational pathways a nurse may take to become an RN:

1. Nursing Diploma

Nursing diploma programs are offered by hospital nursing schools rather than colleges or universities. They were once the most common pathway to a nursing career path.² The amount of time it typically takes to complete a nursing diploma program can vary from one to three years. Unlike college degree programs in nursing, nursing diploma programs do not have general education requirements.

2. Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN)/Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN)

ASN and ADN degree programs typically take about two years to complete. This pathway may appeal to aspiring nurses who want to work toward a college degree but don’t want to spend four years (or more) in a bachelor’s degree program before they can pursue RN licensure and entry-level nursing opportunities.

3. Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

Some schools offer BSN degree programs for students with no nursing experience. This type of program could be an option for aspiring nurses who would rather work to complete a full four-year undergraduate education upfront, before joining the nursing workforce, in order to avoid having to return to college in the future.

A common option, however, is RN-to-BSN degree programs. These “degree completion programs” are designed for actively licensed RNs who already hold an associate degree in nursing or a nursing diploma. Because certain employers—particularly those in hospitals—require their nurses to hold a bachelor’s degree,¹ the RN-to-BSN pathway could be a good fit for experienced RNs who want to have access to a wider array of potential opportunities. A BSN could also set the stage for more advanced nursing study, such as a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).

Step 2. Pass NCLEX-RN Exam

Obtaining a nursing diploma or nursing degree from an approved nursing program is only the first step. The next step is to sit for and pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). Passing this exam demonstrates the ability to practice safe and effective nursing at the entry level.

Step 3. Obtain State Licensure

Because RN licensing requirements are set by each state’s board of nursing, they can vary from state to state. Passing a state criminal background check, for example, is not currently a requirement in all states.¹ The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is one resource that provides nursing license guidance, including a tool that can provide state-specific details based on where you plan to live and practice.

Additional Requirements for Labor and Delivery Nurses

Gain Experience in L&D Nursing

All undergraduate degree nursing programs include a supervised clinical experience component, also known as clinical rotations or clinicals. These rotations can occur in a number of different healthcare settings/specialties, including labor and delivery. Unfortunately, not everyone who wants to pursue a labor and delivery specialization will have the opportunity to do a labor and delivery clinical rotation while in school. Additionally, aspiring L&D nurses often, though not always, have to spend one to two years gaining real-world experience working in other hospital departments before they are able to move into labor and delivery.

Pursue Labor and Delivery Nursing Certification

Registered nurses must typically hold cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), basic life support (BLS) or advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) certification. But future L&D nurses need additional certifications and education. For example, they must take a Neonatal Resuscitation Program^® (NRP^®) course, which is offered by a number of different providers, including the American Academy of Pediatrics. They must also, at a minimum, take a fetal heart monitoring course, though obtaining the Certification in Electronic Fetal Monitoring (C-EFM^®) credential is a common requirement.

After gaining two years of L&D experience in caring for hospitalized pregnant women during the antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and newborn periods, RNs can seek Inpatient Obstetric Nursing (RNC-OB^®) core certification to test their specialty knowledge. Other certification exams specific to the labor and delivery nursing specialization are:

Continuing Education for Labor and Delivery Nurses

Although most states require continuing education (CE) for nurses, these requirements vary because each state’s board of nursing sets its own requirements. For example, all states require nurses to periodically renew their RN licenses; however, not all states require nurses to satisfy a certain number of continuing education units in order to renew.

But just because a state board of nursing doesn’t require continuing education doesn’t mean that an RN doesn’t need to pursue it at all. That’s because certain employers or credentialing bodies may require nurses to meet certain CE requirements to maintain their credentials. So, it’s important to check with your employer and any relevant credentialing bodies to ensure that you are doing what is needed to satisfy all renewal requirements. For example, each of the specialized labor and delivery nurse certifications discussed above—the RNC-OB^®, RNC-LRN, RNC-MNN, and RNC-NIC—must be renewed every three years, and the renewal process for each involves satisfying a certain number of continuing education hours.

Pursue an Online RN-to-BSN, MSN or DNP Degree Program

Colorado Technical University’s undergraduate and graduate online degree programs in nursing are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org). If you’re thinking about advancing your nursing education, explore our accredited online nursing degree programs today, or apply now.

¹ Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, “Registered Nurses,” https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm (last visited March 19, 2025).
² Institute of Medicine (U.S.) Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, Section E. Undergraduate Nursing Education (2011), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209873/.

CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement. Not all programs are available to residents of all states. REQ2119454 3/2025

Jul 22