Interviewing as a new grad for Cardiac/Stroke unit

I am a new RN on a cardiac/stroke unit. My manager didn't explicitly ask me medically-based questions. Now a days in nursing interviews they tend to be able to decide on your intelligence through the way you carry yourself. They are going to ask more questions related to the kind of person you are and your values. You're sure the get the common "tell me about a time you showed compassion to a pt" style question, and I find the answer to that one extremely important. That is a defining question on the amount of passion you have for the 'sport' that is nursing. As far as what to ask the manager...it might not be a bad idea to ask if they take surgical cardiac patients as well as medical. We take open heart patients day 1 post-CABG, and that's one of my biggest challenges at work. Also ask about continuing education opportunities within the facility. I found it to be daunting for my first position to be in a CV stepdown until I was informed about all the classes available at work to keep me up on cardiac/stroke-specific material. Good luck!

As a new grad, they won't expect you to function at the level of an experienced nurse, so they won't really ask you questions regarding "medical knowledge." Be prepared for more situational questions...but they will probably be more generic. At least that's how my interview was. I interviewed as a new grad for a progressive care unit. We get a lot of chest pain/ACS/NSTEMI (STEMI's go straight to ICU or CCU), CHF and patients going for cardiac cath procedures or a stress test. We also get a lot of COPD exacerbation, acute respiratory failure, pneumonia, acute renal failure, electrolyte imbalances (usually hyper/hypokalemia as the admitting diagnosis), GI bleeds, strokes/seizures, altered mental status, overdoses (those patients need telemetry and more frequent monitoring)...a whole mix of things. The experience is invaluable.

I'm curious... How did the interview go?

I work in a stoke/cardiac unit and we are heavy on the neuro assessment skills/frequent vitals and very proactive in making sure the pt gets a CT within the first half hour of coming in thru ER as well as the full stroke work up within 24 hours (follow up MRI, echo, carotid US, immediate neuro consult, standing orders for tele monitoring as well as anti platelets and anti coagulants, OT/PT and rehab evaluations, speech evaluation, swallow study, Lipid panels, etc). Our typical pts are ischemic stroke (where we allow for permissive HTN), hemoragic stroke (where we keep tight control over blood pressure), TIA's, Seizures, CHF, COPD, DKA.

We do a lot of PIV insertions, NG/Foley insertions and diabetic monitoring. Cardiac/Stroke floors get fast turnover -- many pts dropping down to a med surg floor once stable, so there will be a couple Transfers/Discharges and Admits in a 12 hour shift. Time management is more essential for me here than when I worked oncology--oncology was more intimate one-on-one care and less turnover. Here I am teaching to family more than the pt and there is quicker turn.

I find the Stroke admits are more labor intensive than in other units I've worked on because of the stroke protocol has a very tight time window and it's easy for a pt to get off track once they are not a good candidate for TPA. There is frequent vitals and BG checks and the nurse has to be the advocate for follow-up care. Also discharges are social service/rehab intensive so case managers get very involved from the get go.

This is just my view--your unit may vary. Hopes this helps anyone interviewing in a cardiac/stroke unit understand the lay of the land.