I got the interview!!!

Congrats

Congratulations! You'll love oncology! Don't expect any technical questions because that would all be stuff you learn on the floor. It'll really depend on how your hospital chooses to interview people. Based on all my interviews, you have have those behavioural questions "describe a situation in which you...", "how would you respond to this situation". Or you may get the more basic describe your strengths/weakness type questions. They'll definitely ask you why you want to work oncology, why you want to transition from mental health. Definitely mention something about how mental health gave you great psychosocial skills. You'll need them a lot with new diagnosis, end of life patients, dealing with family members with caregiver burden. Mental health patients also get cancer too and they're not always the most compliant with their treatment regimen. Someone did a post earlier on the first job in oncology which will give you an idea of what you're getting into unit wise.

Littlegucci thank you for your encouraging words. You have eased my worries a little :)

How long have you been in onc for? What things do you find most challenging? Most rewarding?

Thanks again!!

I just realized you're an Aussie midazoslam! I love Australia

Ok, now that I've actually had a couple hours sleep, I can properly respond. I'm what you call a baby RN, I've been in onc for about 2.5 years, and I got my OCN earlier this year.

So anywhoo, the positives: getting to know patients, the really good ones, the ones that appreciate your care. The ones that you could probably spend all night long with just talking story. Families know and trust the nurses, they appreciate everything we do. Getting to know your patients likes/dislikes. I recently had a bipolar/schizophrenic patient that could be a bit of a grump with everyone. Once I figured out the way he wanted his schedule, he was nothing but pleasant.

The cons: patients with altered mental status/brain mets. Oh man the nights that we've practically spent all night running into rooms with people crawling out of bed because they don't know what doing on. ("I need to put on my pants" "You're wearing pants!" "No, I'm not, where are my pants?")

We have one doctor that's a bit of a push over - he's not very good at being firm with patients when telling them they're dying and there's nothing else he can do. This just leads to confusion, so the patient and family want to continue treatment, which leads to the patient having a slow and prolonged death instead of going to hospice. DNR with full care is a joke.

Patients that aren't compliant/patients that really are just there for pain meds. ("Ok, so we'll start you getting out of bed tomorrow" "What? No, I just had surgery." "Exactly, that's why we need to get you out of bed" ""Can't you just leave me alone?" "Well how about we change our position now" "Nooo...I don't want to move")

Family members can sometimes be a blessing or a burden. Sometimes they can take their frustrations out on you. Sometimes they just can't comprehend that their family member is dying and keep pushing for more tests, more medicine, more everything. "If he walks more, can they take the NG out?" "No, we need that to stay in to decompress the stomach." "Can we do another CT, maybe the obstructions gone" %&$&...there is a massive tumor there! It will not go away on its own!

The smell of necrotic tumors. Sadly, I can recognize that smell.

Having your patients switch to comfort care isn't depressing like people think it is. Its part of the cancer continuum, from diagnosis to end of life care. I'm giving patients a good death, rather than dying on a vent somewhere in the ICU. There's something comforting knowing your patient passed comfortably rather than in pain. We also give patients more time with their family before they say goodbye. We recently had a patient delay his stem cell transplant in order to attend his daughters wedding. We got to dance with her and everything, the photos were beautiful. He died two months later.

Let me know if you need any more info, you'll do great!

I just realized you're an Aussie midazoslam! I love Australia

Ok, now that I've actually had a couple hours sleep, I can properly respond. I'm what you call a baby RN, I've been in onc for about 2.5 years, and I got my OCN earlier this year.

So anywhoo, the positives: getting to know patients, the really good ones, the ones that appreciate your care. The ones that you could probably spend all night long with just talking story. Families know and trust the nurses, they appreciate everything we do. Getting to know your patients likes/dislikes. I recently had a bipolar/schizophrenic patient that could be a bit of a grump with everyone. Once I figured out the way he wanted his schedule, he was nothing but pleasant.

The cons: patients with altered mental status/brain mets. Oh man the nights that we've practically spent all night running into rooms with people crawling out of bed because they don't know what doing on. ("I need to put on my pants" "You're wearing pants!" "No, I'm not, where are my pants?")

We have one doctor that's a bit of a push over - he's not very good at being firm with patients when telling them they're dying and there's nothing else he can do. This just leads to confusion, so the patient and family want to continue treatment, which leads to the patient having a slow and prolonged death instead of going to hospice. DNR with full care is a joke.

Patients that aren't compliant/patients that really are just there for pain meds. ("Ok, so we'll start you getting out of bed tomorrow" "What? No, I just had surgery." "Exactly, that's why we need to get you out of bed" ""Can't you just leave me alone?" "Well how about we change our position now" "Nooo...I don't want to move")

Family members can sometimes be a blessing or a burden. Sometimes they can take their frustrations out on you. Sometimes they just can't comprehend that their family member is dying and keep pushing for more tests, more medicine, more everything. "If he walks more, can they take the NG out?" "No, we need that to stay in to decompress the stomach." "Can we do another CT, maybe the obstructions gone" %&$&...there is a massive tumor there! It will not go away on its own!

The smell of necrotic tumors. Sadly, I can recognize that smell.

Having your patients switch to comfort care isn't depressing like people think it is. Its part of the cancer continuum, from diagnosis to end of life care. I'm giving patients a good death, rather than dying on a vent somewhere in the ICU. There's something comforting knowing your patient passed comfortably rather than in pain. We also give patients more time with their family before they say goodbye. We recently had a patient delay his stem cell transplant in order to attend his daughters wedding. We got to dance with her and everything, the photos were beautiful. He died two months later.

Let me know if you need any more info, you'll do great!

are you in onc or medical/surg/oncology?

DatMurse, we're mainly oncology. Sometimes we'll get med/surg overflow but we try to get them out of here as soon as possible since we usually have onc patients waiting for our beds.

Ok, so I had the interview today.

It lasted 15 minutes, and had six questions. I hope I answered them well. Two were clinical scenarios, one being able to identify IVAB allergy which I knew, and the other I presume was febrile neutropenia ("you receive a phone call from a patient who had chemo 7 days ago, stating that they feel unwell. What do you think it may be and what do you do?"). I said I'll try to ascertain their symptoms of febrile neutropenia, with the outcome to send them to ED for treatment and management.

My clinical skills are very rusty, working in mental health, and I truly fear this may be a hindrance. Sigh, I really tried to put across that I am more than happy to relearn, and I in fact enjoy learning. We'll see I suppose.

I hope to hear from them in a few weeks. Glad that one is over!!

Ok, so I had the interview today.

It lasted 15 minutes, and had six questions. I hope I answered them well. Two were clinical scenarios, one being able to identify IVAB allergy which I knew, and the other I presume was febrile neutropenia ("you receive a phone call from a patient who had chemo 7 days ago, stating that they feel unwell. What do you think it may be and what do you do?"). I said I'll try to ascertain their symptoms of febrile neutropenia, with the outcome to send them to ED for treatment and management.

My clinical skills are very rusty, working in mental health, and I truly fear this may be a hindrance. Sigh, I really tried to put across that I am more than happy to relearn, and I in fact enjoy learning. We'll see I suppose.

I hope to hear from them in a few weeks. Glad that one is over!!

Your mental health background may be a hindrance, but it also may help you.

Half of oncology is the psychosocial aspect and some people need to be with a calm patient nurse that will sit there and teach/listen to them.

You can cover the customer service aspect of patient care and they will train you more to the clinical side.

I have friends/family members who hate talking to patients in their families. They work in OR/ICU.

good luck.

Thanks DatMurse :) We shall see where I end up!!

Further to my previous comments. I had received contact from the NUM on oncology - unfortunately I did not get the position. This was attributed to not having recent clinical experience. That's OK though, I am glad that I tried and that I even made it to the interview stage.

The saying does go, every cloud has a sliver lining :) So, we'll see where the sliver lining exists.

Darnit! I was hoping you would get the job! I'm glad you're staying positive midazoslam. Its true, sometimes its just exciting to make it to the interview stage. Maybe it just means that something better will come along. Don't let that lack of clinical skills get you down, sometimes its an advantage since hospitals can train you the way they want.

Haha, this is true Gucci. Thanks for your kind words again xxx