You read that right!

Hello all! Well, it’s true. If anyone has been actually reading my posts throuhgout the years, you would know I absolutely love pediatrics. Life is taking me another direction. This all happened in January, and I have just been holding out and giving myself time to process. If you are interested, keep reading! This is a long post so just brace yourself…

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Application Process

I began submitting online applications for nrse residency positions with the hospital system last November during my first semester senior year. The application took a decent amount of time to complete, just because I made sure to complete everything completely. I was immediately met with a lot of disappointement as I recieved immediate rejections from the automated system. This was pretty frustrating, but after a few days, I recieved a email stating they were considering my application. I ended up being selected to be interviewed for the Pediatric Nurse Residency and Emergency Nurse Residency!

Interviews

Alright, now we are getting to the real part of this post. The interviews. Both interviews consisted of the same questions, I simply tailored my asnwers to that cohort. I also made sure to ask each residency the same questions in case I received an offer from both. The questions were all behavioral. I made sure to ask each cohort about conitnuing education opportunities, staff dynamics, etc. Unfortunately, both interviews were not a pleasant experience on my part.

Pediatric

Let’s start with the pediatric interview. The pediatric interview consisted of all of the managers from the Children’s Hospital: NICU, PICU/Peds Intermediate, General Peds, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Pediatric Surgery. The interview was extremely unprofessional. The PICU manager was proceeded to pull out celery and crunch loudly during my interview and when I looked at her she said “What? It’s lunchtime!”.

The other managers seemed to condone this apart from the NICU and really did not seem like they wanted to be there. I had the impression they were simply “filling slots”. Anyone that knows me personally knows I was hoping to become a PICU nurse, because that is my favorite area to be when volunteering with Child Life. Sadly, the NICU was pulling hard for me and even offered to open a slot for me despite having filled their positions! I respectfully declined and noticed the interview pretty much shut down as they all gave the General Peds manager a look like “Well, I guess she’s yours”. After that the interview shut down. Needless to say, I walked out of the interview unsettled.

Emegency Department

Moving onto the Emergency Interview. I interviewed with the Assistant Manager (who is actually the Supervisor now) of the Adult Emergency Room. I was immediately impressed, because after mentioning that I am a Monitor Tech/Unit Secretary/Patient Sitter, he was said “I know you!”. The interview went well and I realized how much of an ER nurse I actually am during that interview. 😂 I did become a little nervous during the interview, because he had actually printed out resumes and just paused for about 2 minutes and stopped talking. I politely waited and after what seemed like an eternity, he said “I was just taking everything in. You have accomplished a lot for being 20”. I was so embarrased, so I just said thank you. 😂

Offers

Well I recieved an offer from both cohorts! Pediatric General (Peds Med-Surg) and Adult Emergency (Level 1 Trauma Center). This was a hard decision to make, but I have listed out my thought process when considering both.

My Decision

After a lot of consideration and talking with my family, mentors, past and present clinical instructors and of course lots of prayer. I decided to go with

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ADULT EMERGENCY!!!

I cannot believe it. It has been months since I accepted the position (assuming I pass NCLEX) and I cannot believe I am going to be an ER nurse. I would have never thought because my personality is not typical ER. I am absolutely TERRIFIED, but hoping this opportunity will help me get where I want to go.

Never settle for something you want if you won’t be treated well. MANAGEMENT IS EVERYTHING!! I absolutely love my kiddos, but I refuse to be stuck in a stagnant environment.

Thanks for reading!

Anna