registered nurse

nursing assistant

licensed practical nurse

paramedic

nurse

Cape Fear Valley Medical Center

The company has been around for quite some time but was recently purchased by LHC Group. This location is short staffed with a high census. RN's and LPN's in the field are overworked and underpaid. The main office is also under staffed and over loaded with work. Team leaders are salary and work an average of 50 hours a week between home and office. They are on call one week a month and are poorly compensated for this. The office environment is one full of gossip, slander, and self created drama perpetuated by the management head. If you want to work somewhere where your peers gossip about you as you walk on by, this is the place for you! But rest assured, the ones gossiping hours on end are the same ones complaining they have no time to do their work. Lets not forget that one employee that has her door shut all day who requested not to be interrupted. If you dare disturb her personal phone calls with her mother, you will be chastised and spoken down to for doing so. You would think the initials RN stood for goddess when you see how they treat others. Ironically though, the rudeness is only evident when no one else is around so you have no one to back you up. Lucky for me, I have an amazing tape recorder which tapes clear as a whistle for those times your coworkers close the door to gossip. You just place it on the floor and let it tape. It is perfect evidence for that slander lawsuit! They are so concerned and involved in what other coworkers are doing, they are oblivious to their environment. In addition to this, you have team leaders who are supposedly in charge yet I think some spend more time on the phone and doing their hair as opposed to their actually job. These are the ones that have initials and degrees yet have not had hands on nursing since they were in nursing school. They are required to go see patients at times but will avoid it like the plague. So if your a field nurse and overloaded, don't count on your team leader for assistance because chances are she's busy doing her hair or on the phone with her mother. The one that knows it all and tries to boss others around doesn't even know her team leader job responsibilities. The ones that do help and that can run circles around their co workers are overworked and chastised for helping LPN's in the field. Then you have your director who tries to secretly go out to lunch with the team leaders as if no one notices all of them gone. So if you are searching for that environment filled with drama, stress and clicks, this is the right one for you!!

I would like to start off by saying, if you've heard any negative rumors or tales about CFV, BELIEVE EM! Some, (and I'm using this term lightly) of the doctors truly do NOT care about the patients or the patients family, particularly patients of color. There are biases already formed from the very beginning for POC, the doctors truly do not listen to the patients complaints. POC are immediately written off and tossed to the side. The lack of bedside manner is terrible, actually its absent. The sense of entitlement from MOST of the medical providers is revolting. This medical setting has zero respect for social workers and the social work profession. No one values what social workers have to say or if a suggestion is made for the safety of the patients. We are pretty much told in a subtle way that "We don't care, but thanks." There is a disconnect and lack of education about what a social worker's role is in a hospital setting, what tasks they can carry out and which tasks are not in their scope. If management would intervene and provide education about a social workers role and advocate for their staff this can easily resolved matter.  Unbeknownst to most, social workers do have a Code of Ethics that we reference and abide by. Work culture is nonexistent, the work environment is TOXIC. Lack of professionalism, passive aggressive behavior, manipulative and conniving individuals. There is ZERO cohesion. Everyone is looking out for themselves, and with no hesitation will throw you under the bus. This is supposed to be a work place no need to make besties with everyone but at least be a decent human being.  If work place drama is what you seek you will definitely find it here, I could write a series for Netflix just off of the drama alone. Lastly, the racism.  Women of Color in leadership positions are not respected nor are they accepted once they enter into the position.  Micro-aggressions, there are plenty. POC do not get the same advancement opportunities as their counterparts. POC are overlooked compared to their counterparts despite the fact that the POC has more education and work experience. Please be careful if you seek employment here.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Generous pay. Competent support staff in one location, poor competency in another. 
You will be happy if you can mentally treat it like a locums gig. Go in with expectation you will find a mild to moderately dysfunctional situation (depending on specialty or location), do your job and don't try to change anything, go home and collect your paycheck. Do not try to change scheduling, triage, training of support staff, procedures you would like to do, work load, etc. Do kiss up to middle management.


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
No physician leadership. None.  Middle management is incapable of understanding any of your challenges, much less getting anything done. Primary care is a hot mess.
Agreements are made in meetings, but then months later, you are told that what was agreed to has been shelved. Make sure you get anything you really care about specifically outlined in your contract, especially expectations or how many patient you will need to see and what to do if you have to supervise brand new NPs. 
Anyone who is interested in QI, leadership opportunities, or just trying to make their workplace better, stay away! You will be banging your head against the wall in despair...

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Do what you are told, get your job done, don't try to think out of the box, and don't try to make any changes. Expect that middle management will be unable to solve any pain points and that mid to upper management will sidestep, make promises that they can't or don't plan to keep. I would call it lying exactly, because I think they mean it at the time, but have no expectation promises will be kept.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Go to work, see patients in too little time, deal with an overflowing inbox and then chart. If you are quick with seeing patients and efficient in your documentation it will be ok.

HIM Department is run with absolutely no regard or respect for any employee who does not hold a supervisory position or better.  The interviewing process is extremely deceptive as it is very inviting, warm, and gives the impression of a very pleasant and fair place to work. Once ensconced into a position with this department, one quickly realizes that the management style is that of pit bulls with pink purses who feed off each other with the tenacity of raptors.   It is standard practice to works months without a weekend off and to work every holiday unless it is requested off, which is granted if management is in a good mood.  Employees are held to a standard of production but are unable to monitor themselves.  If one falls short they are quickly reprimanded with disciplinary action that is designed to hinder any form of advancement.  Even the most seasoned have been known to get caught up in this vortex because of the restrictions of not being able to see for themselves on a regular basis if they are up to the standard before its too late.  Turnover for employees is frequent and swift as this department has one of the most hostile working environments one could imagine.  Run, do not walk, as quickly as you can for another job where hopefully you won't feel as if you've fallen into the starring role of "12 Years a Slave"!!  Also, this job is going to voice recognition soon and the staff will be downsized to that end.  You have to wonder if the policy will be "last hired, first fired".  Forewarned is forearmed.

When I first started working here, I loved it but quickly found out why the turn over for RN's is so high! Unsafe nurse to patient ratio, poor management, no cost of living adjustments, low pay and favoritism.

I didn't have problems getting along with anyone except management, but I've seen newly hired nurses come in and get better treatment then staff that has been there for years.

Pay for experienced nurses is terrible. I just accepted a job in a clinic and will be getting paid the same amount as I make here. I have 10+ years of critical care experience and have been a nurse for 19 years. No yearly cost of living adjustments. I've never worked anywhere where you weren't guaranteed cost of living increases. 

I was wrote up for calling off 23 times in a year, but 20 of those call offs were when I was on an approved medical leave. I was trying to transfer out of my department and if you get a write up you can't transfer for 6 months. I believe it was an attempt to keep me on an understaffed floor. 

I worked 60 hours in one week and was only paid 9 hours of overtime because 11 hours were ACLS class. They told me education hours don't count toward overtime. I always believed any hours worked over 40 in a week was overtime regardless of how those hours were worked! They will try to cheat you out of anything they can if it saves them money!

I love the staff nurses, CNA's, secretaries I work with but I will never go back to Cape Fear Valley Hospital to work again. By far one of the worst places I have worked in 19 years. I wouldn't recommend working here. RUN fast and far!!

There are so many amazing nurses at CFVMC. However, there are more toxic nurses and nurse leadership than ethical and caring. It makes it hard for the good ones to success and not be hurt or bullied in the process. Despite multiple changes made, the culture continues to be one that’s punitive, lacks consistency, and rampant hostility. Patients+Us is half a bandaid on trying to fix this but they miss their own goal of accountability towards others and themselves. Especially leadership and management. It continues to run like a “good ‘ol boy” facility it always has been. Nepotism and favors are a major issue. And the employee culture, lack of support, hostility, and burnout greater affects patient care and satisfaction on most floors. Which is sad because many don’t have any other option in care or employment and CFVMC has no reason to change with it being the major entity in the area and no competition.  They have the potential to be a major place for health and change but lack behind in evidence-based practices, patient treatment, patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction and retention of staff. Sadly, I cannot see a way for this culture to change without a massive overhaul - that I doubt is financially or physically possible and that many middle management and upper management would not want and stop. The environment can’t be blamed on only staff and not holding them accountable when leadership, management train and act in such a way that perpetuates the very culture they’re trying to change as an employer who lost over 2/3 their new hire in a year. Accountability and transparency need to be in all fronts. 

Management has it's favorites. No one to report to. Even the "private" reviewers are connected to managers and directors and have a way of making problems go away. You work in fear of losing your job on a daily basis. They set goals for your yearly raise that are impossible to reach, which they do on purpose so they do not have to pay out bonuses. If you have an issue that you would work with management to improve you are labeled as a "noisy employee" meaning you make noise and they like employees that keep quiet and just work. Turn over is blamed on military deployment or relocation, but this is not true. People wise up fairly quickly and leave. Salaries are not median according to surrounding areas, it's on the low end. Employee tend to be bitter but some can be kind. The kind employees do not stay long or turn bitter. Management from the CEO down to managers and directors and team leaders only care about the bottom line. Not patient care. And doctors send down nearly dead patients to rehab just to make sure they have beds filled. In appropriate behavior and practices are overlooked by favored employees and amplified and punished by others. Managers have spies always watching you. Nursing staff is constantly watching therapist, therapist are always watching nurses, and complaints are not handled with due process. It's worst than a witch hunt. All you have to do is be accused. If you get hurt, God help you, because they will attempt to care, but do not. They also watch your online activity and know how long you are on websites, which websites.

If you want an environment you will learn, be supported and grow as a nurse, this is not the place you want to work. Training and development has a nursing orientation that is death by power point, and is run by the 2 nurses that work in the department. Their priority has shifted from the education of the nursing staff that makes up over 80% of their work force to classes for leadership, the medical residency program and running a high-tech simulation lab for them and not the nursing staff that needs it. The nurse educators on the units try their hardest to educate their staff but are often met with resistance from their managers. Managers are often absent because they are in meetings all day, and there are nurses that have not even met their managers. While there are a good nursing staff, most are bullies. They will stab you in the back and then step on your body to climb to the top. There is no evaluation of management, if they are doing a bad job there are no repercussions. They are left in their positions until they retire instead of being retrained or demoted. Managers scold nurses in front of other staff and nothing is done. Cape Fear has an awful reputation and an awful culture, if you work here as a nurse and leave good luck finding a job. Bigger hospitals don't want you because of the reputation CFV nurses have of being poorly trained, lazy, bullies and bad at documentation. If you have the choice to start your career somewhere else take it. 

Worked at CFV for almost 10 yrs, Loved my job and co-workers, worked like a dog. Felt like the stress was running me down. There was no way to take care of your patients the way they needed to be taken care of due to being understaffed. The reason we were understaffed is because the pay did not match what you were expected to endure. When you work hard and show up for work every day and never call out but never get a raise for all that you do, you find a better job. Every 3 years they would increase the time that you had to be there to be eligible for retirement until it was actually obsolete. You can pay into a 401K but that is it.I left to a job that Started me out making 4 more dollars an hour. Pays you all your differentials (night and weekend pay) when your on paid leave (sick or vacation. You get a cost of leaving raise every year, plus increase in pay every 2. Ten and sometimes more paid holidays.  You have retirement and 401K and great benefits. The boss listens to you and your needs and takes care of the workers. Best job ever. Use CFV for experience and then get out. It is a place that will hire you out of school and they will hire 10 or more new people every year. They know they can get new people so they don't pay you for what you for the experience and knowledge that you have.

Highly politically charged environment that has senior management consistently focusing on how best to cover themselves instead of boldly executing their charge.  The Board of Directors are either totally unaware of the "true" daily operating culture of the organization or condone the mismanagement perpetrated by it's senior leaders. 
The vast majority of the staff genuinely care and attempt to do the right thing.  As one reviewer indicated, senior management is so insecure that the poor performers are rewarded and view as committed to the organization while the high performers are scrutinized regarding how they are able to consistently meet and exceed unreasonable expectations.  While this may sound of sour grapes, make no mistake.  Opportunities abound for working with some great people.  
Interesting that an organization with the extensive number of highly educated people in business and healthcare management utilize so many "consultants" to guide organizational management and direction.  Easier to hire a consultant and have them to blame when the desired results aren't achieved instead of charging those that are supposed to be your brightest to lead and manage an organization successfully.  The organization is truly lacking of sincere leadership.   

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 11 salaries reported	$36.71 per hour
Nursing assistant 3 salaries reported	$13.00 per hour
Licensed practical nurse 7 salaries reported	$23.76 per hour
Paramedic 5 salaries reported	$30.20 per hour
Nurse 9 salaries reported	$31.07 per hour

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