registered nurse

clinical associate

respiratory therapist

medical assistant

unit assistant

CHOC Childrens

The culture generally was good, but CHOC is so full of incompetent management. So many initiatives start and go nowhere, with no accountability to follow-up. The data is hoarded by the BI team that have no idea how the business actually runs, and they take months to years to actually fulfill our requests, that by the time we hear back, we already created workarounds and/or forgot why we submitted a request to them. They recently did a market analysis to adjust salaries of people who made less than the 50th percentile and so many people who did not deserve raises got significant raises, while people who were veteran to the organization and had to work hard for their merit increases year-by-year did not get anything, which effectively diluted/negated all of their years of hard-earned merit increases. Did not help their market analysis covered all hospitals in the entire US... of course that only pushed our average salaries lower as the cost of living is not as expensive in other states as it is in California. Thank goodness we have a talented data team in our own department that makes up for most of the ISD's infinite delays, otherwise we would never get any research or innovations for better patient care in! But even our department's team is constantly at the mercy of ISD and can only do so much, which is ridiculous because how does it make sense to not give access to data to data people? What do they think they're going to do with it? Sell it on ebay? If people would stop being so territorial and more collaborative we could really make great changes, remove siloes and improve as an organization, but instead people hoard things, don't communicate and don't hold themselves accountable and no one seems to care or call them out for it. The research department is a joke and their survey platform is managed by someone who has literally no clue what they are doing and constantly infantilizes everyone, doctors, research, etc., which has made many of us just not want to do research at CHOC. Sorry this is getting to be a long rant, but I come from another organization that was so much better and I just feel so jaded now hearing the same agitated responses from admins now whenever I need something done, I think it's rubbing off on me... and that's why I am fed up with CHOC.

I was warned not to work in the EEG Lab ( Neurodiagnostic Tech) by classmates that did their clinical trials there. The EEG department is a very toxic work environment. I was warned that a group of techs did not like you they would lie about your work performance to your supervisor and that management will talk down you.  If that group do not like you they will get you fired with their lies. These are the same techs that management instruct to train you. I was there for 3 weeks but only worked/trained for 9 days. My manager said I had been there for 27 days and that she was told I refuse advice, instructions, and refuse to work with difficult patients.  All untrue and I don’t know where she got the 27 days from. Instead of discussing what we could do to help me she made me feel as if I was an incompetent and that I did not belong there  I was told I was not A Good Fit. I convinced her that I would try harder and she reluctantly agreed to let me stay. When I left her office, those 6 techs gave me a look of “ Why are you still here?”. I was ignored and the few techs that I got along with turned away from me. When I first heard that these techs had been there for 5-6 years I thought it was great, that turn over was low. Now I realize the reason why there is no one there less that 5 years is because these techs manage to get rid of them. I left later that day and didn’t go back because I realize that I would be constantly have to prove myself to my manager. She would never believe me and I would never get her support. 

 It is very stressful working here when it's short staffed. Most people are leaving because they are unhappy with management and unhappy with how low we're getting paid for doing so much work. If there are callouts expect to do that job on top of the tasks you already have to do. 

Management is very disorganized and disrespectful of your time. Concerns get dismissed as you just being negative when they’re legitimate and should have a response. Admin doesn’t believe you should get proper compensation despite our workload. There’s no proper planning involved when new technology and workflow changes are introduced, we’re told to just deal with it. At the end of the day they don't even know what we really do.

If you're in the IV room your hands will 100%  hurt or go numb. We do hundreds if not thousands of doses a day and make D12s and D20 bags by hand, doing this day in and day out is just asking for carpal tunnel from the get go and despite asking, they don't want to get us a pump or anything to help draw out these doses. 

Complaints of bullying and serious issues that deal with harassment, disrespect, and incompetence from other technicians that directly affect patient care go absolutely nowhere and it's very discouraging and frustrating to continue working around this.

On a typical day of volunteering, I would go into the radio station in the lobby of the hospital and help set up the day's production. Then I would help gather and prep the crafts to give out to the kids. With a team of about four volunteers I would go to my assigned floor of the hospital and begin to distribute crafts to each room. Every room visit had strict protocol. There was a lot to memorize and the job requires special responsibility and integrity. I would go into each room and ask kindly if the patient or family wanted a craft, or if they needed anything, including friendly company. The process could take 5 to 30 minutes in each room. The radio station is important because it gives the kids an opportunity to make a choice as to whether or not they want to participate in something in the hospital. It exists entirely for the kids and their families. My favorite part of the job was my opportunity to interact with children. My stated reason for doing this was to make a difference in the lives of children. The hardest part of the job was the exhaustion that came with supervising children for hours. I'm glad I did it, and I would gladly do it, or something similar, again.

I did not enjoy my time in the Children's Hospital of Orange County, Research Department.  The management was oppressive, poorly organized and poorly managed.  The head manager in particular was very difficult to work with, and the tension trickled down through the ranks.  Interdepartmental relations and inter-personnel relations were awful as well.  In addition the organization itself had very odd practices for general things. For example, you had to fill out time off requests and them approved for major holidays like Christmas when the office was closed.  Not only is that waste of paper and time, it is just a general mismanagement of resources when you consider the the 100s of employees doing that several times a year.  If an office is closed, the only people who need to notify management are the ones who need to be there or on-call due to patient obligations.  This is just a small peak of the culture with the system.  That doesn't mean that good people do not work there and it is not fulfilling working in the pediatric field, however this organization has a long way to before it is comparable to other major institutions.

*She went from specialty tech (secretary) to supervisor of department. Sometimes a person needs experience and an education to understand the importance of good leadership. 

*When you treat people with respect and fairly you get more out of your employees. That doesn't happen.

*unfortunately she has pushed great techs/leads to leave due to her constant write ups, being overworked and overall High school mentality that includes bullying, gossip, mean, unfair treatment.

*She speaks Spanish in the department so if you don't understand the language it makes for an incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere. Making a tech feel isolated.  It's against CHOC policy. Again unprofessional. HR should look into that.

* only one person  per shift works on weekends.1 oncall

*Not enough techs. After awhile you get so angry, frustrated, tired mentally and physically that you don't care about all the overtime...you just want to go home and decompress.

With a educated and  experienced MANAGER: not an unprofessional, unsupervised superior I believe there are endless possibilities for that department.
.
A positive...CHOC gives great PTO!


I was a level IV NICU RN, every department culture is different, but our NICU was incredible. I felt a part of the family, the co-workers were amazing, and all the RNs were intelligent and competent. There was always help when it was needed. All hospitals have seasons of high acuity where work feels really hard, and the charge nurses did their best to make appropriate assignments, but some seasons it felt like the whole unit was drowning, and other times like we had barely anything to do. That's just how healthcare is... CHOC is always striving to improve; they frequently give raises to meet the market. I felt like I was paid well, could schedule myself in a way that created a good life balance, and was well supported by management. I was incredibly sad to leave because I don't know if another NICU like this one exists. There is a reason why so many people dream of being able to work at CHOC and why the interviews are so competitive- it's a great place to work, and you will see SO much!! My only complaint was that often doctor-RN communication was not ideal, and there is a culture shift that needs to happen there.

Very welcoming and accommodating environment. Enjoyed working there with children and peers. Well staffed.

But...

When things go wrong, if you are at the lowest position of the hierarchy, you better not be a part of the blame as very little things don't go quite and get written up. My fault? I totally admit it. But even if it wasn't me who caused the issue, it still falls on you, not the one who made the wrong final decision including the MD and charge nurse who approved the decision of the issue.
Summer is generally slower than other seasons. You don't get to work slower because of all the online education you are required to do when you are supposed to do it after work. No one really reads it, guess answers, and share answers. Total waste of time. Yes, you have to do this EVERY year.
When it's time for the annual performance review, don't even think about getting help from peers. Everyone is busy filling up the form of how they so good for what they have done.
Some RNs, especially younger, think they are on top of the world. Good to have pride but you don't have to boast about it.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Management is very bias. Management does care to keep staff long term it doesn’t matter if staff leaves because there’s a big turnaround and it doesn’t matter to management. It’s all about the company making money what matters to  choc. There’s big money from government with this transition of sexuality of children starting hormones pills at the age of preschool. The pay is very poor even if the individual has experience. You get a pay increase only ones in a while it was two years after I got a pay increase even though I’ve worked there for many many years. There’s no seniority because according to management everyone is equal. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Not getting seniority and respect from management 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very bias. Not respect by management and doesn’t matter if there’s not enough staff to help, there’s a big turnaround 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Not much to say about that. Very stressful because of management

Part of my duties is a sort of "help desk" .  I train new requesters (people who enter order for department needs) on a monthly basis so I am constantly taking questions or correcting an entry.  I am also a trouble shooter when there is a problem with one of the portions of the Lawson programming.  Since I have knowledge of how AP works as well as Purchasing, I am often asked to research and analyze why an invoice is "stuck" in the system that are applied to a Purchase Order but will not release for payment.  I work with many different coworkers at any given time.  I guess the hardest part of my job would be seeing what the problem is but having the computer system prevent me from correcting without help from the IT department or reaching out to the software for help, or having others that enter info into the system not understand that one entry not thought out properly could causes a large problem in processing.  The most enjoyable part of my job is taking that "large problem" and after approaching from several directions, resolve the problem and have the invoice pay correctly.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 3 salaries reported	$54.67 per hour
Clinical associate 12 salaries reported	$20.17 per hour
Respiratory therapist 3 salaries reported	$51.33 per hour
Medical assistant 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Unit assistant 3 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour

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