registered nurse

licensed vocational nurse

mental health technician

chief financial officer

case manager

Aurora Charter Oak Hospital

ACOH was one of the more challenging places I've worked as a new graduate nurse.
During orientation, I felt supported and welcomed. However, after training ended, my experience changed significantly. I often felt that mistakes were discussed more than they were used as learning opportunities, which made it difficult to build confidence as a new nurse.
In my experience, the organization struggled to consistently support and integrate new hires. While some senior staff members were helpful and encouraging, others seemed less receptive to new graduates. Communication about expectations and procedures also felt inconsistent at times, which could be frustrating when trying to learn and provide safe patient care.
The compensation was competitive compared to some other psychiatric facilities, but I found the reliance on per-diem staffing and the limited incentives for preceptors discouraging. Training new nurses requires significant time and effort, and it often seemed difficult for preceptors to balance those responsibilities with their own workload.
I also felt there was a lack of consistency in how certain policies and practices were interpreted across staff members. On more than one occasion, I felt caught between different approaches or expectations depending on who was providing guidance.
The workplace culture was not the right fit for me. I found it stressful, and at times I felt that professionalism, teamwork, and psychological safety could have been stronger. For new graduates especially, I would recommend maintaining clear professional boundaries, asking questions when expectations are unclear, and requesting important guidance in writing whenever possible.
That said, some people may have a different experience than I did, and for those looking to gain psychiatric nursing experience, it may still provide opportunities to develop skills and move forward in their careers.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Attractive location, patients are not turned away generally. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
As a Community Liaison, taking referrals from a facility referring the patient is the easiest way to build a good relationship; however, it was difficult to ensure we had a bed for a referral, even if from a key account. 
That lack of collaboration cost many chances to build referrals.  

Also, local peers had the ability to come take the patient from the ER directly; Charter Oak refused to invest in staffing a clinician for that purpose, despite the local hospitals stating that they would use ACOH much more if referral were easier. 

Finding PPO-insured patients was more difficult as more Californians became eligible for Medi-Cal.  The CL can't change demographics in the area, but were held responsible for patient billing mix. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very high turnover, as pay is lower than competitors and they don't match 401k retirement contribution. 

Certain departments were known to be toxic. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Review census, call any facilities who referred, conduct in person outreach to key accounts, while prospecting new referral sources.

My typical day starts at 11:00 pm I receive report from the charge nurse. Then I do room check to do head count and make sure everyone is ok. Then I gather my paperwork date and label them. Every fifteen minute I recheck the patients to make sure there breathing ok and there not in pain. I take vitals of patients that are Q shift. I do the census. Then I go into the kitchen and straighten it for the next day. I deal with patients that are anxious through the night to try and make them as comfortable as possible. I also have to deal with patients that are angry and need to be deescalated, if that doesn't work I notify the med nurse and charge nurse to maybe get that patient some medication. The unit I work on has great staff we work so well together, which I think is very important. The hardest part of the job is when we have to take a person to the observation room and put into restraints if necessary not done that often but it does happen. The most enjoyable part of my job is interacting with the patients and finding out there story. I always wonder what got them to the state they are in. I like to make the patient fell comfortable.

Aurora Charter Oak is a good place as a new grad for a place to get solid Psychiatric experience or a place for those near retirement to find a comfortable place to end their career.

You will get full exposure to almost all types of Psychiatric pathology as well as insight into how the business of medicine functions - both the corporate side, and the challenges one faces when moving up the career ladder.

Other benefits include decent tasting meals at decent prices and parking for all employees.

There is a very high turnover of employees, and many of the "lifers" are rare and can be found in management positions.  Many of them have obtained their titles without proper education or training, which is part of the reason there is high turnover - poor management.

As a for-profit hospital, their priority is truly on the profit portion.  Many of the nurses are there for the excellent "new grad" experience previously mentioned, but a significant number are there because they are unable to find work because of restrictions with their licensure.  These both mean that they will pay very low wages.

This position is very stressful, the work never ends. Admissions and discharges come and go at all times and you can easily spend 10-12 hours a day there. Work never ends and you are expected by the Clinical Director to stay each day until your work is done. You have to work every other weekend and on weekends there are less case managers. Instead of working just one unit you are working three on the weekend. You are expected to due 7 tasks a day which are psychosocial assessments and discharges but on the weekends that you work you can easily have at least 12 of these and you have patients stopping to talk to you and families wanting to speak to you so again you can easily spend 10 to 12 hours on a Saturday or Sunday. It really is sink or swim. Units have like 18 patients or more at times and everyone needs you to help them find housing in an average length of stay in 5-7 days. Very stressful, I never took lunches on my shift and had to clock in and out like I did take a lunch. Sometimes not even time to use the bathroom.

As a teaching hospital several local Colleges and Universities are able to benefit from the Nursing, Chemical Dependency, and graduate level internships and rotations. Often students that are able to rotate through ACOH are able to find future employment. The professional atmosphere of each department is welcoming to new staff and the hospital is very client oriented. If you are not prepared to truly satisfy the needs of the psychiatric in-patient to best attain the highest level of care, then perhaps Aurora Charter Oak is not the greatest employer for you. However, if you are the person that wakes up and declares themselves a true servant of the ill, and willing to do all that can be done for your bother/sister in need, this is the greatest hospital you can work for.

a typical day at work: as an RN in inpatient services, the responsibilities include patient safety, mental health assessments and de-escalating agitated patients. Communication is key. 
what you learned: I’ve gain new perspectives on mental health and how our health care system stabilizes this patient population 
management: management is constantly asking for people to work on their days off and “punish” employees by floating them to different units and taking away overtime hours
workplace culture: coworkers are great mostly. Working as a team is important. 
the hardest part of the job: feeling unsafe due to being short staffed and not feeling properly trained to handle agitated, assaultive patients 
the most enjoyable part of the job: coworkers are nice.

This is a smoking hospital which is a con for me. There’s a huge homeless/drug use population that comes in for shelter. 

I have never in my entire life worked in such an unprofessional environment. You are basically slaving all day long just to be told its not enough, and under appreciated and the pay is laughable, but they expect loyalty? The administration does not care AT ALL about their employees, or anyones feelings for that regard. They only care about the money they may possibly be bringing in. They dont care about their patients, only what insurance they have.
My notes are endless and still never good enough.Environment is so depressing, they will do
anything in their power to tear you down.  No appreciation whatsoever. If you put in your two week notice they will find any reason to get rid of you and when they can't find one, they'll do it anyway. If you want the "hours" or "experience" of working in an acute setting, please understand when I say there are other ways. If you love yourself at all... don't do this to yourself.

I come in receive report. Usually in detox unit. Staff is always in a good mood and also ready to work.Responsible to audit and medicate about 15+ patients.Keep track of detox patients and protocols. Management is understanding considerate but also firm. The hardest past of the job can be having needy patients while having having admissions. Due to the critical revising that needs to be done. Also sometimes nurses don't have a licensed nurse to help with assessments which can increase the work load. The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing the difference the various treatments have made on patients having that interaction with patients. Being able to be therapeutic and working with a variety of cultures families and professionals.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The hours i worked also every other weekend was not bad and there was definitely alot of over time 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Some of the core staff in the units would harass you especially the new staff in training and it made it hard to work along side with them 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It was very stressful not only staff the supervisors would make it very uncomfortable to work there our new staff in training never lasted past 30 days C builfing was the most stressful alot of harrassment you witness harassment at which is very uncomfortable to do your job ..new hired never last 60 dsys 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
From the minute you arrive you are non stop working there are days you get no break

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 13 salaries reported	$48.00 per hour
Licensed vocational nurse 5 salaries reported	$32.50 per hour
Mental health technician 13 salaries reported	$21.98 per hour
Chief financial officer 8 salaries reported	$160,000 per year
Case manager 2 salaries reported	$24.75 per hour

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