Thank you for stopping in!
It's been one year since I earned my RN License and I wanted to touch base and share my experience.
I had full intention of sliding over into the Emergency Room where I was already working as a Medic, unfortunately there was a delay with resources to move me into my new position, (1+ month) and I didnt want to wait so I sought out other areas in the hospital.
HR provided many departments that had openings and I had quite the selection to choose from. OR circulator, MedSurg, ICU, Recovery, Nursery.
HR lined up the interviews and my first one was with Maternal Child/Nursery the following day.
I'll admit I was pretty terrified, I really had no idea what to expect. The experience I have of newborns was limited to the exposure I had on the truck which typically was secondary to a precipitous delivery that I inevitably had to catch and quickly hand off on arrival to the ER.
I had two interviewers present, The director of Maternal Child (the department includes Postpartum, Labor and Delivery and Nursery), and the Supervisor.
Although I had limited experience with newborns, I had many examples of times where I controlled unthinkable situations and scenes while providing care under incredibly stressful scenarios.
"So you're a "New Nurse." Don't discredit your experience as a MEDIC. We were trained to be capable providers in extreme situations, this is an ADVANTAGE in interviews."
I was impressed with the professionalism displayed by my interviewers, they are the kind of providers you look up to and say, "I want to be like that one day." I knew if I followed them I could learn a lot. Evidently, I made a good impression too because they offered me a full time position. I was honest about my insecurities with working solely in Nursery and after discussing the differences in departments we all agreed that Labor and Delivery would be a good fit considering my experience. I accepted the offer.
I've been in Labor & Delivery for 1 year now and I'll tell you more about it in my next entry.
Have an RN interview experience/tip you would like to share? I'd love to hear it!
With Great Respect,
MrsNurseMedic