Trying to transfer to Level II Nursery

[my2sons]

Seeking Nursery/NICU view on my situation (also posted to management forum):

I'm a BSN CCRN with 10 years ICU experience, started in ICU as a new grad way back when they were not hiring new grads in the ICU. I did not have a formal internship, I had a preceptor for 6 weeks and then I was on my own. I feel like I have accomplished all that I had set out to accomplish in adult ICU and now I'd like to move on and change specialties. I've applied at a fairly small hospital (lots of deliveries though) for their Level II Nursery. The recruiter contacted me and said that I was not a candidate fot the Nursery position since I don't have NICU experience and they do not do internships. Then she all but begged me to interview for her open ICU positions. (UGH!)The Nursery position has been open for weeks and she admits that they are very short staffed ( another reason they are seeking experience, I'm sure). I am thinking about bypassing this recruiter and contacting the Nursery Nurse Manager directly, forwarding my CV, and asking (I'm willing to beg!) for an interview. I am practical, I realize that NICU/Nursery is VERY different from adult ICU. I am an extremely motivated, responsible, and self directed learner. I succeeded (shone!) in ICU as a new grad with an extremely limited amount of clinical training, and really think that I could learn quickly in the Nursery as well. Any comments, opinions, thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[my2sons]

That is what I thought of doing, too. I could easily transfer to my current hospital's NICU (has a former internship) and leave after my training, but that just doesn't seem like the right thing to do. Or, take the new hospital's ICU position, network with nurses from the Level II Nursery and apply for a transfer when I'm eligible. (Right now it is 6 months, I think.) I know that my current hospital would rather transfer a nurse if it means keeping them, rather than have them leave the system. My ICU interview is tomorrow, I'm meeting with the recruiter first and I'm going to request a Nursery interview again.

[NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN]

One little caveat for you. At my old hospital (yet again, one of the MANY reasons I'm not working there anymore!), they told you that yes, they'd rather keep you than lose you entirely, even if it meant they'd "wasted" six months of training on you only to have you move to your unit of choice once your probationary period was up. However! Try to ACTUALLY move, and you find out quickly that there is a little clause that allows unit managers to claim "emergency staffing standards" (i.e, they claim they're too short to let you go at the moment). In essence, let's say you're in ICU and you want to go to OR. You fill out your transfer paperwork, there's an opening in OR, you are eligible. Your boss says, "Oh, no, we can't lose someone else right now" or your boss is a witch and purposely tries to antagonize you (as in my old unit), and she claims emergency staffing needs. She could keep you up to three months to alleviate the "emergency" on the unit, by which time your nice job in OR is sure to be up. Next time you go to apply, say a few months later, she can do it again, and keep doing it until you finally say f*ck it and quit.

Be sure they aren't going to do this to you before you agree to work in the ICU.