registered nurse

patient care technician

licensed vocational nurse

medical assistant

paramedic

Cook Childrens Health Care System

Honest, I do not know where to begin. I’ve witnessed the most toxic high school level politics and gas lighting by dysfunctional managers and coordinators on the face of the planet.  If you like funhouse mirrors, work at Cook Children’s. You’ll feel like you live in the upside down mirror universe on the daily. 
If you are intelligent, communicate well, are a natural leader, have amazing people skills, are incredibly talented, have tons of real world experience with various cultures around the globe...you will be treated like you are the weirdest person in the room. Conformist, mentally unstable gas lighters and surface level thinking people should definitely apply because you’ll get a job being a manager!  
Cook Children’s has the most amazing programs for children and families. They have an art department, a tv station, music studio, playgrounds that encourage imaginative play, events that offer tons of free clothing or toys, etc.  All of that is wonderful. Slowly you realize that it’s all for appearances. Some kids are treated better than others. That isn’t in their doctrine at Cook, but it’s the fault of the terribly ignorant people in charge of certain departments. 

A dysfunctional workplace begins at the top and drips down to middle management, and infects the rest of the workers the lower you go. 
My own experience is worthy of being a case study for any company to read.  If you grew up in a family that had an alcoholic parent or drug user then you would spot the dysfunctional patterns quickly.  The weakest links in the chain are enabled and often are put in positions of power by management. It will blow your mind the first time you experience an injustice, go to your manager or department head and they accuse YOU of being too this or that. I witnessed so many unfair practices, favoritism, and lies lies lies.... so many lies. It operates like a cult mentality. You are groomed into the programming initially and slowly your freedoms and rights are stripped away by micro managers with control issues and zero logic. You’ll believe that you are the problem and maybe you need to try to get along with people or let things go that are blatantly wrong?  
Then comes the day when you look in the mirror and realize you’ve contributed more than anyone else and you are being paid the least. You might even get fired for clocking in 3 minutes early from lunch! Never mind the fact that the clocking stations time is different from the clock hanging above it. No benefit of the doubt is given despite the fact that you’ve built a program or many (in my case) from the ground up and often worked off the clock to make sure something got done right. 

The most insulting thing is the yearly competency requirements which are completely tailored for the dumbest person in the room, which is most people who work there. I was told to read this book called QBQ. Look it up. It is written by a borderline sociopathic rich guy and is nothing more than an airport terminal reader meant to last during your layover. I read this book and laughed out loud. The irony of it was too hard to take. It was about being accountable and going the extra mile. The author frames up a story of himself going to a crowded diner during the lunch rush and he admits he was “in a hurry.”  He explains how he was irritated because the one slave, I mean, waiter, had not taken his order. Then when he was clearly being the life ruiner of every waiter’s career by acting entitled to better and faster service, he gets really angry when the waiter tells him they are out of his favorite beverage. 
Do you want to know how that story ends? The poor waiter ends up walking to a gas station and getting this man his favorite beverage out of his own pocket. Essentially leaving his post during a huge lunch rush, spending his money, just to shut up an entitled  and socially unacceptable person.  
Get this- This QBQ book was written by that guy and it was from the perspective of how the waiter was accountable and went the extra mile. Do you see the irony? The author had no accountability on his part for his decision to go to a sit down restaurant when he was in a hurry, and took zero accountability of how he was the squeaky wheel that required the understaffed restaurant to do something inconvenient just to not get a bad review by this “important man.” 
Okay, so Cook Children’s Child Life department required all of us to read that book and make a list of things we could be more accountable for. What.A.Joke.  The hilarious part of my observation of this was seeing the coordinators of certain departments walking around clutching that dumb book like it was the Holy Bible. One of the managers who is clueless and the most ignorant person I’ve ever seen in a professional position said, “QBQ is like the first real book I’ve ever read.” 

This person is in charge of events, gives VIPs tours of certain areas, and is the boss of another woman who speaks 3 languages fluently, was a teacher, trainer, and is several years older with way more experience. 

This is the paradoxical nature of Cook Children’s. Up is down, down is up, left is right. Everyone drinks the koolaid and if you don’t, you  will slowly become on the outer edge and pushed out. It doesn’t matter how brilliantly you do your job, or how important you are to children who are long term patients. The dysfunctional people in charge will make sure you never get promoted, never get an opinion, and that your concerns will never reach anyone higher than them. 
In fact, if you have a real issue and take it all the way to the top, they will just sent it to the one person you were trying to bypass. 
Corruption is abundant and nobody will hear you cry wolf. HR is corrupt. There’s no confidentiality with management and they go behind your back and will even go so far as to break rules with anonymous Peer reviews by making them NOT anonymous. 

Nobody cares about anything real. It’s all about appearances, ridiculous employee events that isolate the patients and seem very employee centric, and so much more. The lists of injustices are so heinous and so unbelievabley unproffessional. It won’t change. They lose their diamonds in favor of broken glass. 
Why I’m writing this review? People need to know the truth. I have tried to speak up and go through proper departments like HR, but it’s so corrupt and broken that the only way to get light to shine on this organization is by ruining the appearance they do desperately try to maintain. It’s not what it seems. It’s an illusion. And if you are reading this and you work there and you cannot understand why anyone would feel this way? Well, you are part of the problem.

I left because of the toxic Nursing Culture that is considered acceptable by the long-term staff, management, and administration.  Over the years, I worked in 5 different areas of practice and had 6 VERY distinct roles.  I was lucky to have Nursing experience and be in autonomous roles in my early years, so remained outside the target area. 
As I moved within the system it became more apparent what was happening.  

They take new staff who are ethical and have a solid moral compass, and will either convert or destroy them. 

While it was general practice on some units to routinely falsify documentation,  I observed MANY nurses who actually “set up” new or weaker nurses and then would point out things so that they could be reported for minor violations when the inexperienced nurse missed something because they had been given overwhelming/unreasonable or unfair caseloads without assistance...Or simply because a nurse would NOT falsify charting.  

Incident reports would be written for things that weren't charted-even though there were no untoward effects, and those same tasks were ROUTINELY missed by other nurses--without incident reports being written--because they had been charted as being "done". 

After speaking up I became a target.  What had always been seen as stellar practice, was suddenly questioned at every turn.  I got out before I took a professional hit or my pts were sabotaged. 

I eventually went to work in a  Private Pediatric Practice with an EXCEPTIONAL staff, only to find out after a few years the Practice was being bought out by Cook.  

Within 2 weeks of the announcement, almost a third of the staff had come into my office in a state of near panic needing to talk.  It seems the reason we had such an exceptional team of RNs and LVNs was because these were the upstanding, honest, quality nurses, who had been sabotaged by the unethical bullying at Cook's.  They had either been taken to the State Board, fired, or quit because they were being terrorized by the unethical behavior of staff and management.  And since Cook's owns practically the whole town, this was one of the few remaining practices in the area where they hadn't been black-balled and could  still get a pedi job. 

As soon as the contract was signed with Cook's, I gave my resignation (without another job). I continued to work through the transition to train a replacement, and exited upon the rollover date. The DON and Physicians thought I was being a little dramatic about it by resigning.  

I explained to the DON and my Physicians my distrust with HR and their whole culture...that is, unless you were one of the "insiders" and operated like that.  And I won't. 

But about 6 months later I met 2 of them for lunch....  "You were Right!  It's EXACTLY like you said--Nothing is what we were told." "It feels like I'm being sabotaged-I don't know who to trust."   "We are like the step-children...  Reprimanded for everything-It's like we are grade-schoolers again".        
"We are under such a microscope. We can hardly practice-Even when we are doing exactly what the patients need."  

Just last week--July 2019, I was told by a Cook's professional employee of a situation where HR has put discipline "points" on an employee's record (hers)...when her Director/boss never sent anything in, or even knew anything about it.  (It does however keep her from being eligible for a raise or switching positions within the organization--and she is on the very upper end of the pay scale and VERY close to retirement.)  Coincidence??

I would steer clear of this organization....

The smiling faces and pleasantries aren't telling the whole story.   Remember as much as you are trying to land a job, they are trying to land you. 
When you are job hunting, the facility has you dealing with their Best SALESMEN.   

Just like the Politicians, everyone you speak to is Campaigning-hoping you will choose them.  (Think about it....How much follow through do you get on the pre-election chatter and promises from your representatives and senators once they get your vote locked in?)  

So....Just beware.

This Hospital and pharmacy is very very busy most of the time. This review is based on the inpatient main pharmacy.

Positive: Most of the people in the pharmacy and hospital are friendly. Of course there are a few bad apples such as the Surgery staff. There is a real starbucks and a yogurt shop in the hospital. The hospital is up to date, clean and very bright. I enjoy working here because it is a children's hospital and there's a sense of accomplishment knowing what I do helps them get well. The benefits use to be great, but after after a few years of declining and budget cuts, it's now considered good. Met some pretty cool people and some really inspiring kids. I've learned alot from the better techs and pharmacist. Good attendance policy because the supervisors don't keep track.

Negative: Typical day at work is the very REPETITIVE motion of filling medications.The turnover rate in the pharmacy for techs is incredible. Management will not help you or support you like you think, especially the two main pharmacy supervisors. They are incompetent and occasionally hide when there are system failures. The supervisors are suppose to come in whenever someone calls in during the weekends, yeah forget that. I've only seen one of them do it twice in the last four years. The pharmacy is constantly busy, understaffed and overworked. If you want to move to a better position, make sure you get to know management really well. Favoritism is a concern here. First shift is the favorite child, evening shift is the red headed stepchild and night shift is the forgotten child. DO NOT get tricked into going to night shift. You will never be able to get off that shift. The supervisors favor first shift because they moved up from first shift and occasionally go out with them. The internal department interviews for higher positions here are a FRONT. Management already know who they are going to pick. I've seen many great techs leave due to favoritism. The cafeteria food for staff is abysmal, including the chic-fila. the pay is okay, you're going to get offered less than you do at other hospitals. Many people who have experience took a pay cut to come here.

Cook is a great place to work at depending on the position you have. You can really grow a lot if you are working at the Fort Worth location. However, the clinics there is not much growth especially as a receptionist. I only been here for a short time as a medical receptionist at a clinic. It is extremely stressful because there is no clear communication and proper training besides Epic before going into the clinic. The pay is very unfair because it is hard working for 3 doctors, and there is only 2 receptionist. This clinic is understaff which affects both patient care and customer service. Sadly, I see the stress in all my coworkers’ eyes including the doctors. I believe this will lead to burnout. I love the patients, but it is financially difficult to work for a hospital that pays so little to the medical receptionist at clinics. The pay should be at least $20. I don’t mind being understaff, but the pay should be fair and accommodate to the clinic being understaff.  Also, there should be more opportunities for people to grow within the clinics because not everyone can move to work in Fort Worth. The staff is very lovely to work with. It’s just sad how Cook Children’s is setup as an organization. Also, they are lacking in certain benefits that other hospitals offer such as critical illness insurance, etc. As well, they were very disorganized when it came to communication for orientation. For me, HR told my manager last minute of what my schedule would like like for the next couple of days for orientation. Also, they don’t do mileage reimbursement for those who are working at the clinic to come to Fort Worth to attend orientation, which I think it’s so sad that the employees have to bear the cost of transportation to make it to orientation. Overall, Cook Children’s has the potential to be great and better than it is now, but top management and HR need to seriously sit down and evaluate their current weaknesses as well as getting feedback from their current and former employees.

This was the worst job I have ever had. I have years of experience in my position and was put on some sort of "performance improvement plan" by an incompetent manager. This manager had no idea what she was doing, but it was obvious they decided to push me out for whatever reason. My work ethic and performance is usually above the expectation, I have never been in trouble for work performance in my life. The manager in question was promoted with no prior management experience and treated employees like children. I honestly think I was dealing with someone who had mental illness. Went to HR for guidance and help and got the complete opposite. Everything I discussed with my HR rep was discussed with my manager, despite my being told the conversation was confidential. The reason I knew this is because my manager accidentally opened their mouth and told me things they could not have known otherwise. After talking to some colleagues, I found out my situation had happened to several other former employees of this department who also seeked help through HR only to find themselves ultimately retaliated against by management and forced to quit. These were not bad employees (I knew one of them from a different employer) and it was bizarre that HR did not handle this appropriately. Ultimately I was bullied and treated unfairly. I have never worked anywhere or at any other hospital in the metroplex where I have been treated this poorly and sabotaged from doing my job. I am still perplexed as to why they even hired. I am so happy I quit before it caused me some kind of illness from stress. Lesson I learned- never, ever go to HR to report anything. The only way to report this kind of wrong doing and protect yourself is by doing so anonymously. I wish employers would take this sort of thing seriously, give employees an anonymous portal to report bullying and remove toxic managers, or at least investigate their behavior.    

I have always loved my work environments and never had an experience like this before. I really liked my co-workers and was sad to leave, but it was the best decision I have ever made.

This pharmacy and hospital is ridiculously busy all the time, but I do not mind because I truly do care about the children. This review is for the inpatient pharmacy. 

Positives: Some of the techs and pharmacist here are very fun to work with. Some are not. the health benefits are pretty good , although it is declining every year. It is a very clean facility and mostly everyone is friendly, except for most of the surgery staff. They tend to think they're gods. There's a starbucks and yogurt shop in the hospital. The only reason I enjoy working here is because of the "still good" benefits (for now) and the great feeling of helping the children. I've met alot of cool people all over the hospital.

Negatives:  Of course there are cliques and groups. Do not get tricked into working the NIGHT SHIFT because management will make sure you stay there (because no one wants it, you'll be stuck). First shifts are the favorites here, evening shifts are the red headed stepchild and night shifts are the forgotten child.  There's a lot of favoritism in this department. The supervisors will not help you with your problems if you're not on first shift (they came from first shift). We have lost many great Techs due to a lot of favoritism. The turnover rate is incredible here. The cafeteria food is abysmal. Supervisors were suppose to work if someone calls in during the weekend, but they WILL NOT. most of the time you are going to feel short handed, even during the weekdays. You WILL be overworked. Position interviews within the department is just a front, management already know who they will pick. Luckily I do not care  to apply for any of it, but other people who deserved it can not seem to get out of where they are at. Oh and do not expect to get pay well here if you come in with benefits. Cook' pay less than adult hospitals. Staff parking is horrible due to little available parking spaces.

If you’re interested in health care and kids and open to working for a large organization, then Cook Children’s is a great choice! They are a strategic organization that understands their people are their most important assets. 
As such a big place, experiences vary across the organization.  

The health foundation is a fun place to work at Cook Children’s. While the pandemic created lots of challenges for everyone, a few directors acted as cheer leaders to keep up moral especially when the department’s executive leadership seemed out of touch. As emotions began to wear, there was division felt within the department due to unbalanced workloads and a lack of accountability across much of the executive and senior leadership team (where it’s a office politics mine field.)

Overall, I enjoyed my time at CCHF, but had no opportunity or support towards any type of advancement. The health foundation prefers to hire from outside instead of coaching and helping their current staff grow and advance with the organization. The leadership team there are big fans of the status quo. 

And while everyone in the department is good at their job, there is only 1 POC in a department of about 30–which is UNACCEPTABLE in 2021 from an organization that claims to be a leader in the community. Job postings clearly need to be placed on websites that attract a more diverse population and the job descriptions should better explain the jobs in CCHF to empower more diverse applicants. Maybe HR could connect with social work departments at UTA and HBCUs across the state that cater to more diverse students. CCHF must improve on this front. 

Reviewing requests for services is not as engaging or rewarding as working directly with patients and families. You do learn a tremendous amount about insurance and Medicaid specifically. It is a peek behind the curtains for a practicing nurse or clinician.  You are able to assist healthcare providers to learn the ever changing rules so that they can successfully request approval for needed services for plan members.  Procedures and processes for daily tasks changed frequently. These frequent changes, at times, impacted the morale of the team and created a sense of unpredictability or chaos. There are positives: working from home, good pay, full benefits, helpful team members and supportive immediate management. Upper management seemed very distant. There was a reduction in force at the Health Plan which was unexpected (to the employees). This reduction did not seem to be handled well in terms of the amount of notice, emotional support and empathy given to the impacted employees and the  amount of notice given to remaining staff. We did not know that anyone was laid off until the day our colleagues started leaving. 

I joined CCHP around six months ago, and I've been impressed with the organization's excellent work culture and values. My colleagues have been supportive and positive. However, the health plan itself faces challenges with limited resources, tools, operating systems, and staff, impacting productivity and hindering the achievement of job goals and objectives. These challenges make me question whether I'll make it to a year, turnover is pretty high from the limited time I’ve been here. I've observed that upper management can be cold and lacks understanding, particularly regarding work-life balance, especially for employees with children.

Having worked with numerous MCOs throughout the state, including Louisiana and Florida, I've noticed that they all had fundamental departments to handle simple yet crucial functions in this industry. Unfortunately, CCHP lacks this infrastructure, placing the responsibility on individual employees' plates and limiting time and effort available to focus on their own job responsibilities. This situation is overwhelming, and having to learn and master tasks, as well as finding time to complete them, on top of your own responsibilities, not within your scope, is undeniably stressful.

While the pay is pretty competitive assuming you are truly working within the scope of your role, taking on tasks and responsibilities that other departments would typically handle creates misalignment in compensation.

Benefits are superb and start almost immediately after start date. 

I'm not sure there is a typical day at work in the Emergency Department of any hospital.  You need to be flexible and able to roll with the punches.  I've learned so much about healthcare something I have always had an interest.  Management at Cook Children's is excellent.  They are down to earth and compassionate managers that truly care about the kids we are helping.  I've made some great friends for life with some of my co-workers.  Healthcare workers are just great people that truly care about the level of care they provide or if they aren't clinical.  We care about the support we can give those that work so hard to take care of others.  The hardest part of the job is when we lose a child that has been in a abusive situation.  You just don't understand how anyone could possibly hurt this helpless little child.  The most enjoyable part of the job is being able to work as a volunteer and helping the long term patients.  Also, I love being able to help at Christmas when very sick children can't be home for the holidays.  Santa Claus finds each and every one of them.  And their parents if they staying with them long term.  We want everyone to feel special.  Health issues are difficult enough, we want to help bring some bright moments into their lives.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 14 salaries reported	$44.14 per hour
Patient care technician 3 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Licensed vocational nurse 5 salaries reported	$25.70 per hour
Medical assistant 6 salaries reported	$21.63 per hour
Paramedic 1 salary reported	$36.25 per hour

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