Nervous Nelly

So, the above title isn't quite true. I'm not all that nervous. More like anxious. But why don't I tell you what all this is about before I start dissecting my feelings. I have an interview tomorrow with a hospital a little less than 2 hours away from my house. (I guess we'll see what the actual driving time is tomorrow, huh?) It's an all-day interview which is pretty typical in my field. And I'm excited to meet the team and see the hospital but I'm also wary becaue I'm beat from my two days in a row of sun-up to sun-down shifts and I have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to arrive to my interview on time.

This is my second interview in two weeks. Since I went to the NANN conference back in September and caught up with old colleagues and brushed up on the latest research I've found myself yearning more and more to get back into the NNP role. I know, I know. I said I was happy as a nurse . . . and doubly happy with my 15 minute commute. And I am. But it's hard not to miss being in the NNP role. It's what I trained for, it's what I'm passionate about and it's why I have all these school loans, for crying out loud!

However, there is one (very big) problem with this: There are no openings in Orlando. Zero. Zilch. Nada. And it doesn't look like there will be any for at least 2 years. Maybe more. So I developed a strategy. I networked like crazy at the conference and met a few recruiters and a few hospitals, with openings in Florida, all expressing interest. My criteria was this: the hospital had to be within 2 hours of Orlando and it had to offer long shifts (long = 16 to 24 hours). I compromised with myself in order to find a job. It sucks to have to drive 2 hours to a job so I only looked at places with long shifts so that the number of times I had to drive back and forth to work would be drastically decreased. For example, I interviewed somewhere that primarily does 24-hour shifts. So I would do 3 24-hour shifts in 2 weeks, give or take. How sweet is that?!?

I also decided not to entertain any more of this Level 2 business. If I'm driving that far I would only look at Level 3 NICU's. These are the NICU's that keep the sickest babies, house more specialties, perform surgeries, etc. This is the kind of place I want to be in, where I can really learn my stuff. If the hospital was a teaching institution or in a university setting, all the better.

I narrowed the field down to the 2 strongest contenders. And that's where we are now. I've gone on one interview and tomorrow is my second. These interviews are exciting, for sure, but also nerve-wracking and exhausting. Throw in a 4 hour round trip and who knows what shape I'm going to be in tomorrow. Hopefully I'll remember to post! :-)

So I should go now and prepare (aka write up my questions, print out directions, pick out an outfit, etc). Wish me luck and pray that my diabetes stays in check all day!!

TTFN!
~Layne