awoodBMT, RN

When I received an interview on a BMT unit, I read this. And after 10 months of working on a BMT unit, this post is perfect. It's definitely a steep learning curve, and my unit also takes MICU patients so it was a pretty overwhelming learning experience at first, but I can't imagine working anywhere else. I'm always learning something new. They are sick, sick, SICK patients. Our unit ratios are 3 patients to 1 nurse for stable BMT patients (sometimes 2 to 1), and 2:1 for when we have an MICU patient with a BMT patient.

I work in a Bone Marrow Transplant ICU. I don't have any specific questions I can give you, but what I can tell you is what kind of person that the interviewer will most likely be looking for. Most nurses that work with cancer patients, do it because of how much they love their cancer patients. For instance, do you want to work in oncology because of good pay? Or because it sounds cool? Or do you want to work in oncology because you want to be there for someone when they are probably at their lowest, sickest, most vulnerable point in their life? To encourage and lift them up when they don't feel like getting up and taking one lap around the unit because the chemo has literally beat them down and they're constantly nauseous along with having diarrhea. The interviewer will pick up on these things. At least my unit does. Just be yourself is all I can say. It's an amazing, sad, and rewarding field to work in. I can't imagine working anywhere else. I hope this helped some, and good luck to you!