Leaving NICU

[ShipleyRN]

Hi

I have this dilemma....I need some advice on several problems.

Little back ground on my nursing career.

I live in small city with one local hospital. I worked there on medsurg floor for about 6 months after nursing school. I left because it was a night shift position, I hated it! The nurses I worked with were bullies and unfriendly. The patient to nurse ratio was 1:8. It was awful. My husband and I had just bought a house so we could not move. I decided I would travel to a larger city that is 1hr away. The pay was better but the cost of gas and car repairs kinda balanced that out. I found a day shift position at a cardiac med surg floor and loved it. I was there for two years. Then decided on a huge change and went to NICU. That is where I am currently for the past 3 years. 

Now I had my first baby boy. We cant relocate due to my husbands job. But the drive is weighing heavy on me. My baby is currently 3 months old and sleep sometimes evades me. The drive to work is getting to be too much. On top of that I have recently been accepted to DNP-FNP program in the same city I work in . So I know I will be there more throughout the program. This takes me away from my family and put more driving and costs. I currently wake up at 4am feed my baby leave by 5 get there by 6 so I can breast pump before my shift by 7 (I up for 3hrs before my shift even starts) I leave at about 705 (if I get done with report on time). get home by 815ish depending on how late I get out of work/traffic on the interstate etc. this job is currently self scheduling and I am trade shifts with coworkers if I need to. I usually do two shifts in a row then off for one or two days and finish with one more shift. 

my thinking was also since I will become a FNP then I need more experience with adults anyways. but NICU is my absolute favorite. My dream has been to be a NP so I can be home with my kids when they start school and get away from doing 12hr shifts. I didn't want to go for NNP because currently only place hiring is the NICU in the big city and they do 12hr shifts etc. thats not what I want when my son is older. I want to have 8 to 5 job  for when he is in school. 

I am now looking for jobs at the first hospital I worked at or even a town over which is 35mins away (better than an hour). I placed an application for ICU position in the local hospital. I am not going back to the medsurg floor I worked in. The people there were awful. I do know it is under a different manager tho. Tomorrow the HR director said she call me back because when she called I was at work....Im so torn about this decision. I have so many questions for her. I need this to be a day shift position, and for pay to be at least the same. 

I figured I would go ahead and do an interview and ask my questions just to get a feel if it is where I would be semi happy. (Nothing will be better than the NICU!) I keep telling myself it is temporary. that I will be there until I finish school. 

I worry about the culture in this hospital! it was full of bullies and cliques. the mds were not nice. the way they did things were just so unsafe. since I worked in teaching hospitals ik that this hospital is unsafe with alot! But do I work for them to make my education easier and be home with my baby and sacrifice my happiness with work?

What kind of things can tell my interviewer?? Like hey I didn't like working here in the past but I need a job closer to home so im willing to give a try? And should I tell them im in school so I don't plan to be working there long but I could stay to work in their clinics tho? what if they ask me why I left? can I tell them truthfully my experience in that other department?

Any advice helps. Or if you were in my position what would you do?