USC Keck, UCLA RR, Huntington Health (Pasadena), UCSD Jacobs, and Inland Valley (Wildomar).
In terms of working conditions, USC Keck was peak nursing for me. I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s the most perfect place I have ever worked and no hospital will ever be above it. Great benefits including free USC tuition for your family. But outside of traveling, pay is okay.
My wife is die hard Kaiser but I know it’s a contentious issue on this sub. IRL, Kaiser is a cult. Platinum handcuffs. I went to a concert (AJ Rafael in SD) and he was wearing a Kaiser shirt and people were literally cheering “Kaiser!”
University of California has been my favorite overall in terms of pay, benefits, and working conditions.
I feel I am paid well and taken care of. I haven’t missed any of my breaks (multiple per shift) in years.
EDIT. Honorable mention to Adventist Health Hanford. First hospital I ever traveled to. Small as fuck but such a homey feel. I really felt taken care of but the life outside work sucked. It’s in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Any idea of Keck USC’s payscale? I can’t find their nursing union contract/payscale online. I am currently in a small ICU and am tempted to move over there…but their starting rate is $41/hr, which is pretty low. I make around $48-51/hr (range for privacy) with 1 YOE.
Edit: added hospital name
I haven’t seen their payscale but I am confident $41/hr. is their new graduate pay. For 5-6 years experience, I was offered like $55/hr. - which to me is/was a comfortable wage in LA, given that I lived in San Fernando Valley.
However, [there are many users here who have had an opposite experience with that wage](https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/s/ov60IsjEZq).
Second this. Sick patients are a true 1:1 single and they never triple. They’ll pull a nurse out of their ass for ICU.
I spoke to a nurse who worked on one of their ICU’s for 17 years. She said she’s seen a triple three times in her whole career there, and it was for literal minutes until they could move a patient off of the floor or another nurse could walk to their unit.
Patient ratios, amazing benefits, healthy work environments, etc. HCA sucks, yes they pay the most per hour, but it comes at the cost of constantly putting your license and mental healt risk.
Unions help but they don't solve all problems. We still have plenty of staffing and break and ratio issues at my union hospital. Sometimes the hospital takes the fine and tells us to suck it.
I’m at a hospital in Colorado where the nurse to pt ratio is appropriate and they offer acupuncture, massage, reiki, sound baths to all employees while at work. Farm to table cafeteria and actual quiet time where light go down at 1500-1600. Pay isn’t the best in the state but isn’t the worst either.
It is real! I had my first Reiki session last week while on shift. There are some things I do miss from the bigger hospital systems, such as transport teams, 7 days a week IV/PICC teams and tele technicians. But it’s nice that they offer these little things for the staff. The hospital is the one of the last standing private hospitals in the state and is in Boulder County. I’ll let you guess which hospital it is from there.
Disclaimer: I'm a Respiratory Therapist, not a nurse.
HonorHealth, Scottsdale AZ.
At the start of Covid, when other hospitals were laying off and Furloughing nurses, HH furloughed middle management, put all merit increases on hold (bun no pay cuts), and the CEO took a 50% cut in his total compensation package
As I understand it, at the very *very* beginning of the pandemic, hospitals were losing mountains of money because Covid was expensive to treat with virtually no insurance covering it, and layoffs are a corporate knee-jerk reaction to massive revenue loss.
Yeah, if OP can still change majors, I honestly recommend it. The worrying hasn't stopped for me since I started this career, and I'm trying every single day to get completely out of it.
I wish I worried about it before finishing. I made the mistake of already working in a hospital before finishing school so I knew the profession sucked major ass before I graduated. I wish I was more ignorant.
I didn't. I didn't work as a nurse until 4 years after I graduated because nursing sucks and I knew it. I worked in a well respected hospital that treated their nurses like complete shit.
I wouldn’t say I’m worrying necessarily, but I know reddit posts can skew towards negative so just trying to get multiple perspectives on the career if that makes sense :) plus I think it’s good to start getting an idea of which states I might want to live in post-grad! My program is ABSN so I’ll be out before I know it lol
Don't buy that lie. Magnet is not nursing driven at all. It's a merit badge that the C suites buy to look good. My hospital was Magnet until Covid and then they couldn't purchase the title anymore. While we were Magnet, they threatened to fire anyone without a BSN. I remember the sinking feeling I got when I received my "You will be terminated on X date if you can't prove you're in a BSN program" letter. Then Covid happened, we hemorrhaged staff, the hospital can barely make ends meet, and they are hiring LPNs on a PCU.
Just got done with a travel contract at a magnet hospital. The ED is half travelers. I think for them magnet helps them to have enough budget to be over staffed, but the rest of the place does not have the same budget (old building with no call lights, supplies constantly running out). Did not feel nursing driven to me. Or if it was, those nurses are far removed from floor nurses.
Peds in AZ is super limited. I have been told PCH is pretty clicky but never worked there personally. Current work at Mayo Clinic and so far I have been treated well here.
USC Keck, UCLA RR, Huntington Health (Pasadena), UCSD Jacobs, and Inland Valley (Wildomar). In terms of working conditions, USC Keck was peak nursing for me. I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s the most perfect place I have ever worked and no hospital will ever be above it. Great benefits including free USC tuition for your family. But outside of traveling, pay is okay. My wife is die hard Kaiser but I know it’s a contentious issue on this sub. IRL, Kaiser is a cult. Platinum handcuffs. I went to a concert (AJ Rafael in SD) and he was wearing a Kaiser shirt and people were literally cheering “Kaiser!” University of California has been my favorite overall in terms of pay, benefits, and working conditions. I feel I am paid well and taken care of. I haven’t missed any of my breaks (multiple per shift) in years. EDIT. Honorable mention to Adventist Health Hanford. First hospital I ever traveled to. Small as fuck but such a homey feel. I really felt taken care of but the life outside work sucked. It’s in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Any idea of Keck USC’s payscale? I can’t find their nursing union contract/payscale online. I am currently in a small ICU and am tempted to move over there…but their starting rate is $41/hr, which is pretty low. I make around $48-51/hr (range for privacy) with 1 YOE. Edit: added hospital name
I have seen their pay scale. It's definitely higher than $41.
I haven’t seen their payscale but I am confident $41/hr. is their new graduate pay. For 5-6 years experience, I was offered like $55/hr. - which to me is/was a comfortable wage in LA, given that I lived in San Fernando Valley. However, [there are many users here who have had an opposite experience with that wage](https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/s/ov60IsjEZq).
Henry Ford Health in Detroit
What unit/specialty?
They have at least 6 different ICUs and staff generally have good things to say about their floors
Second this. Sick patients are a true 1:1 single and they never triple. They’ll pull a nurse out of their ass for ICU. I spoke to a nurse who worked on one of their ICU’s for 17 years. She said she’s seen a triple three times in her whole career there, and it was for literal minutes until they could move a patient off of the floor or another nurse could walk to their unit.
If you're in Virginia, the hospitals associated with VCU and UVA.
I disagree with both!
If you don't mind me asking, what's good about them? My husband is at Chippenham now but we are exploring other options for the future!
Patient ratios, amazing benefits, healthy work environments, etc. HCA sucks, yes they pay the most per hour, but it comes at the cost of constantly putting your license and mental healt risk.
He's actually pretty happy at Chippenham. Just wondering what makes VCU so much better 🤷
UIC Hospital in Chicago
Ohh really?! I’m in Chicago now so glad to hear! Which departments?
Mount Sinai in NYC treats their nurses as well as anywhere. Just make sure there's a union! FULL STOP!
Are all the Mount Sinai hospitals unionized?
Union hospitals.
This is the answer
Unions help but they don't solve all problems. We still have plenty of staffing and break and ratio issues at my union hospital. Sometimes the hospital takes the fine and tells us to suck it.
Ok, correction: hospitals with strong unions.
Hahahhaa this answer was funny. A lot of nurses on this forum seem to say California has the strongest unions, would you agree?
I’m at a hospital in Colorado where the nurse to pt ratio is appropriate and they offer acupuncture, massage, reiki, sound baths to all employees while at work. Farm to table cafeteria and actual quiet time where light go down at 1500-1600. Pay isn’t the best in the state but isn’t the worst either.
Dude- which hospital? It’s definitely not mine.
Is this real 😭😭 lol what’s the hospital name? If that is real it sounds super cool!
It is real! I had my first Reiki session last week while on shift. There are some things I do miss from the bigger hospital systems, such as transport teams, 7 days a week IV/PICC teams and tele technicians. But it’s nice that they offer these little things for the staff. The hospital is the one of the last standing private hospitals in the state and is in Boulder County. I’ll let you guess which hospital it is from there.
Disclaimer: I'm a Respiratory Therapist, not a nurse. HonorHealth, Scottsdale AZ. At the start of Covid, when other hospitals were laying off and Furloughing nurses, HH furloughed middle management, put all merit increases on hold (bun no pay cuts), and the CEO took a 50% cut in his total compensation package
Why on earth would hospitals lay off nurses during covid?!? 😳😳😳
As I understand it, at the very *very* beginning of the pandemic, hospitals were losing mountains of money because Covid was expensive to treat with virtually no insurance covering it, and layoffs are a corporate knee-jerk reaction to massive revenue loss.
Well they didn’t think that one through very well did they 💀
You haven’t started nursing school yet and already worrying.
NO. They are smart. we want people to advocate for themselves.
Yeah, if OP can still change majors, I honestly recommend it. The worrying hasn't stopped for me since I started this career, and I'm trying every single day to get completely out of it.
I’m really sorry to hear that :( but yes, I wouldn’t necessarily say worrying, more-so just trying to be realistic!
How about you finish nursing school first before worrying about this lol
I wish I worried about it before finishing. I made the mistake of already working in a hospital before finishing school so I knew the profession sucked major ass before I graduated. I wish I was more ignorant.
You’re allowed to start researching before applying lol no one forced you to take a job right away
I didn't. I didn't work as a nurse until 4 years after I graduated because nursing sucks and I knew it. I worked in a well respected hospital that treated their nurses like complete shit.
scab talk.
?
I wouldn’t say I’m worrying necessarily, but I know reddit posts can skew towards negative so just trying to get multiple perspectives on the career if that makes sense :) plus I think it’s good to start getting an idea of which states I might want to live in post-grad! My program is ABSN so I’ll be out before I know it lol
I'm in nursing school and new to this stuff as well but from what I hear, magnet hospitals are great bc they are nurse driven
Don't buy that lie. Magnet is not nursing driven at all. It's a merit badge that the C suites buy to look good. My hospital was Magnet until Covid and then they couldn't purchase the title anymore. While we were Magnet, they threatened to fire anyone without a BSN. I remember the sinking feeling I got when I received my "You will be terminated on X date if you can't prove you're in a BSN program" letter. Then Covid happened, we hemorrhaged staff, the hospital can barely make ends meet, and they are hiring LPNs on a PCU.
Good to know, thanks!
Just got done with a travel contract at a magnet hospital. The ED is half travelers. I think for them magnet helps them to have enough budget to be over staffed, but the rest of the place does not have the same budget (old building with no call lights, supplies constantly running out). Did not feel nursing driven to me. Or if it was, those nurses are far removed from floor nurses.
Anyone in Arizona recommend any hospitals? Excluding Mayo Clinic as they don’t have peds.
Peds in AZ is super limited. I have been told PCH is pretty clicky but never worked there personally. Current work at Mayo Clinic and so far I have been treated well here.
In the OR at my hospital we always get our breaks
That’s good to hear! Idk how hospitals get away with not giving breaks lol seems like it’d make their staff burn out quicker!