Med/Surg to Medicine floor

[Dakeirus]

I've been working for almost a year in a med/surg floor. I plan on applying to work at a different hospital (but same name/company) in one of their purely medicine units.

I've been trying to come up with a response if asked, "Why do you want to leave your current position?", but all I've found are generic answers like "I'm looking for better opportunities." It's harder for me to answer because I want to go to a unit which requires (almost) the same skill sets.

Would it be acceptable to say something like "I believe that I could learn more from medicine patients because I've found that taking care of post-op patients to be a little predictable now"? But then say something like "That's not to say that I know everything about taking care of surgical patients because everyday is a learning experience for me," so I do not sound overly arrogant or confident? Or is this kind of response not good at all?

The truth is my unit has become very stressful for me. Some of the patients we get are so ill they probably belong to a step-down icu unit. They refuse to staff us based on acuity and instead, based on numbers, which at one point resulted to one of us taking care of 2 vent patients with 6 other patients. A lot of times we only get 2 nursing attendants for a floor with 30 patients which has multiple total cares.

[silverbat]

Mabe just say that you prefer medical over surgical patients and want to emphasize on that type of care?

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

You could say the first thing that popped into my mind on the occasional two vent patients and six other patients staffing level: it was an unsafe work environment and you felt like you were risking your nursing license based on their risky staffing practices.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Disagree with calivianya... if this is a transfer within the same facility, you do not want to be branded as a malcontent who is complaining about staffing levels.

A good answer may be - "I have found that I really enjoy the intellectual challenge of dealing with the complexities of medical patients, especially _________ (type of patient that is prevalent on that unit). I get a great deal of satisfaction in helping them understand and participate in their own treatment". Since medical patients are much more likely to have a chronic illness, this would be very appropriate.