Bone Marrow Transplant interview, what questions should I ask?

[karleigh]

I am so excited to have an interview on the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of a teaching hospital with a well known cancer center. I'm wondering if anyone out there may have suggestions for good questions to ask the interviewer regarding the specific treatments or care of the patients up there. Are there specific certifications I should ask about? Any suggestions or advice would be very appreciated!

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

Bone Marrow units I have seen are self contained, meaning you don't float to other areas. I would think this would be a good question.

What is the staffing ratio? Usually you can have very acute to walking patients so what is the mix.

And good luck.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Ask how many transplant they typically do a year. Is the floor 100% transplant patients? Ask about ratio of autos to allos. Floors that do more allo transplants will generally be a LOT busier than floors that do mostly autos. Ask about when patients get transferred to ICU and what you're expected to be able to handle on the floor acuity wise. Ask about isolation procedures. Will you be expected to gown and glove at every room, or just the patients with infectious conditions? Ask about how after hours emergencies are handled. Are you expected to call the service doctor at home, or at night is there an onsight doctor that handles such things? Ask about the general level of nursing experience on the unit. Is it going to be largely new nurses, half and half, or mostly experienced nurses?