Big or small hospital?

[freckles23]

I am an RN with 5 years tele/med surg experience at a level 1 hospital which is #1 for cardiac and work on a tele floor.  I feel stagnant and stuck in my current position and feel like im not learning much anymore. I want to do Cardiac ICU and spoke to my manager regarding going to the CCU since shes manager there as well and its not a guarantee in the future and there are other employees that also want an ICU position. Now I have an interview at a smaller CCU tomorrow within the same healthcare system but its not known for cardiac and all the complicated cardiac patients come from this facility to the one im currently at. If given the opportunity should I take the smaller job for critical care experience and transfer back to the facility im at now? Or should I stay put and who knows when a position would open up and if I would even get it? Need some insight.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

How does the other hospital stack up against your current one as an employer?

Also, do you "lose" anything by giving up 5 years of seniority?

[RNperdiem, RN]

You might ask to shadow on the unit some time after the interview. Pay attention to team interaction. Does the unit feel welcoming? What kind of orientation do new to ICU nurses get? 

With a large level 1 hospital, you are probably used to having easy access to doctors when your patients need something. Smaller hospitals involve more paging and calling rather than having a resident present on the unit at all times.  Smaller hospitals might have more trouble filling staffing holes when nurses call out. The big hospital I work for has a flex team with literally hundreds of nurses covering all specialties to fill staffing needs. Smaller hospitals often mean nurses having to do without phlebotomy, EKG techs or other ancillary staff on certain shifts. When I worked in a small hospital, the pharmacist locked up the pharmacy and went home at 10pm. Nurses there had to be more independent.

If the unit you are interviewing at treats nurses well, and is able to give you a proper orientation, consider working there.