registered nurse

patient care technician

registered nurse - emergency room

registered nurse - medical / surgical

registered nurse - icu

Deaconess Health System

Gateway phlebotomy lab management is terrible to say the least! It is not about qualifications and who is best for the position but rather “who” you know and “whose” butt you will kiss. If you are friends with higher management staff you are set. Upper management allows lower management to be rude, spiteful, disrespectful and dismissive of staff with no repercussions. It has become acceptable to talk down to your staff and treat them as if they do not matter. The same rules do not apply to everyone. The same thing one person gets fired for another gets a pass and they let it slide. The turnover for phlebotomy is astronomical. There is a steady stream of new hires coming in and right back out the door. Staff is overworked, spread too thin, under appreciated, rushed thru poor training, turned out before they are ready or qualified due to the lack of staff with the knowledge or care to turn out quality trainees. Staffing is so short that new people are training new people. Mistakes are ignored because if management doesn’t ignore them they would have no phlebotomists left. Every shift is over worked and under staffed. It is almost impossible to use pto you accrue due to staffing issues. Breaks and lunches are rare most days. The call-ins are out of control. Until an overhaul on lab management takes place I would not recommend phlebotomy at Gateway as a position I would take.

My job gives me a lot of fulfillment and pride in what I do. I love my patients and learn so much about the tests I am drawing for and conditions. The days are hard, and workload is overbearing most days. 

Deaconess does have a lot of opportunity for education assistance. I utilize the Step Up Program and tuition reimbursement. It's a lengthy process, and you sign your career away to them for 3 years after you graduate, so 5 years minimum.

What I do not love is the management and the way the company runs. They spend far more resources and money into monopolizing the health care system around them then investing into their current employees, and Human Resources would rather set policies that work against us rather than for us. They would rather fire great workers for absences that should have been eligible for FMLA but could not because it takes 1 year, typically a 6 month attainment, and go through the entire hiring and training process to go through it again just to fire the new person for the same reason. Turnover rate in my department is unreal. Because we are short on staff, our workload becomes overwhelming. We do our best to adapt, but the resulting burnout leaves those who don't get fired, end up quitting. 

Yes, you accrue PTO at a pretty fast pace. Do you get to use it? No. I've been with the company for over a year and have nearly 100 hours PTO just sitting. And believe me, I put PTO request in. 

First thing’s first: Phlebotomy is a vastly underpaid occupation/career and if you’re genuinely good at it, you should be paid based on performance because there are far too many who are downright terrible at it. Deaconess can only match the national average, unfortunately. If you’re not new to being in healthcare where pay is bottom of the totem pole, it’s more or less the same in the realm of co-workers; they come, they go, very little stay outside of those who’ve been there 5+ years and attitudes can get pretty abrasive between shifts. That being said, the rest are decent to work with and a few are what keep you from wanting to quit at times. Regardless, I would have been much more compelled to stay if I were paid based off of my performance and I feel my performance was worth $20+ an hr because as mentioned earlier, there are many phlebotomists who are horrible at their job and they somehow keep their jobs and get the same pay as someone who routinely outpace and outperform everybody in the lab and they’re very far and few between. Phlebotomists are seen as working bodies, not individuals with varying skill sets and that’s why the bad ones get to stay for so long. If phlebotomists were paid fairly based off of how well they get the hardest of sticks (with little to no pain might I add) that most others cannot, you’d get far more patients getting the appropriate care they need and far less phlebotomists being sent away by said patients due to poor performance in sticking.

I was proud to say I worked for Deaconess when I first started. I enjoyed my job and was hopeful about the changes occurring, until one of the changes became management who had no idea how to manage.

The faster Deaconess grows, the worse the management gets. Deaconess administration does NOT promote those who take on more tasks, think critically about system operations or speak up about challenges their department faces. 
They continue to promote people who aren’t properly trained or knowledgeable of the work of the people they supervise. Those same people will advise their direct reports on a job they’ve never done themselves. They promote those who have to ask their direct reports how to do the job they were promoted into, and then proceed to treat those direct reports like they are insignificant and easily replaceable. 

The management have terrible communication skills, like robots managing people…with the goal to make those “people” robots too. If you don’t fall in line and say “yes” to everything that is asked of you, they’ll find a way to get rid of you. I, like many of my burnt out coworkers, was overworked and underpaid. A coworker of mine expressed concern to administration about the issues in our department and was told “the grass isn’t greener elsewhere,” instead of trying to help. It was a blessing to get away from that toxic, miserable environment. 

I wish I could warn the poor soul who takes my job.

My last 6 years with Deaconess Hospital have been happy ones.
My co-workers were such conscientious and dedicated workers that encouraged anyone around them to follow that example; proof that the management took care in interviewing new ones by lengthy interviews to ensure that they would be a good fit for the department.
Additionally, even though it was a very busy environment, there was always time to chat a little and those who worked there longer were always ready to help the newer ones with their expertise, a pattern that just kept repeating itself over and over.

The hardest part of the job was leaving it, as it will be a pretty tall order for a hospital or facility to follow behind; for example, the monthly bonus given for having received a cash goal, the superior insurance, the "Thank you Thursdays" treats, the grill out days, the golf for free on certain weekends, the Wellness incentive for an employee to keep themselves well,etc, all these and more were things done to show appreciation  for its employees! 

No wonder, then, that Deaconess was voted one of the top 100 places to work in the U.S., as well as being voted a Magnet facility for its wonderful care given to its patients!  Yes, I'd go back to work there!

What is the best part of working at the company?
My team! Moved up in pay quickly 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Watching certain staff continually get recognized for doing bare minimum, bringing issues to leadership made you a target, the problem will be protected and you’ll start to feel less supported by said leadership, preferential treatment is allowed and managers talk about employees to new hires & fully add this culture they claim to want to change. I felt like I was constantly fighting for them to see my worth. It’s unfortunate because I was amazing at my job, a hard worker, and I just wish they could see that and want better for staff. It’s hard to accept especially for new nurses who come in excited and quickly learn this behavior is rampant and then watching as everyone accepts it. It’s a realization that this isn’t something that can be changed easily or probably ever at this point. I cared. I miss my team and how much I’ve grown as a person and nurse having that experience. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Varies from position to position and location 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Busy. Rewarding. It has cons just like every other employer but my coworkers I met along the way made it worth every con.

Deaconess was wonderful several years ago, and used to be the best place to work in the tri-state. Since then, they started making cuts and greatly undervaluing employees. Inpatient was an absolute nightmare and no changes were made while I was there even after reaching out to HR and one of my coworkers even reached out to the CEO desperately begging for help and change to protect the patients and us. We all felt unheard and not valued. I also experienced and saw the company expecting employees to do the work of multiple employees for the same amount of pay to save them from having to hire more people. There was a lot of burnout and low morale, which was not how it was when I started. I really hope they start hiring more people, increasing salaries, and making their employees feel more heard and appreciated. I also hope they bring back some of the free programs they took away (for both patients and employees). I had several patients complain about no longer getting free diabetic education. I was surprised after working there for almost 5 years that they never even reached out for an exit interview. I would have loved to provide constructive feedback if they are open to changing. I’ve had really good experiences and bad ones there, but it really went downhill my last couple years. They have great potential to be better, and I hope they turn it around. 

Working here was the worst job experience I have had to date. I worked as a PCT and was very excited to start. The classes you were required to attend before starting work were the most enjoyable part of my time at Deaconess. After that, everything just went downhill. I was given 10 days of orientation to learn everything before being put on my own. I was a float so I was placed on a different floor every day I worked to get more experience. Ten days seems like it would be enough until half of your preceptors either refuse to train you or completely ignore you the entire time. I had one very bad experience one of my first days working where my preceptor was no help at all and I was yelled at by a nurse for not knowing how to do a job that I had not been taught. Nurses like that are why this company loses so many of its employees, especially PCTs, and why Deaconess is routinely understaffed. I have never been in a more passive-aggressive workplace than when I was employed here. There were several nurses that were very kind to me and were nothing but helpful but the rest act like they are still in high school with their mean girl attitudes. I would suggest not working here and finding a place where you are not treated like utter garbage.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Pay stays high for contracts due to lack of staff. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Inexperienced staff training new staff that really do not understand why they are to do what they do to help. Nurses expo to do vitals, answer lights clean and toilet patieodurina med pass, etc. unsafe for nurses. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very resentful of travel nurse that I got into an argument with a MALE nurse who told me I don’t even work ther. I have been doing contacts almost 2 years- longer than him- and he sits and cry’s about anything like all the women every time I work with him. Very stressful and culture of anything goes. Cannot hold techs accountable or expect anything from unprofessional ones because nothing will be said. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I have learned to get in get report get all meds for pt for night and go get vitals, assessment and meds between 7-10p because at 9m they text us to say if we stay or move to another unit/HOSPITAL!!  Ever worked like this and see techs sitting and talking or on personal phones while nurses run like rats. Very disrespectful young that do not know they are working under my license.

Pros:
-No weekends
-No Holidays
-Procedure pay for clinic hours (some flexibility required)
-Patient population is mostly cheerful, and we get to extend lives and/or relieve pain
-There are a variety of tasks and activities throughout the week, so the job is not boring
-Able to get time off

Cons:
-Sometimes there are sad situations (duh this is cancer care)
-Stay late on 1 Monday a month (6:30 PM)
-Sometimes early hours (6:30 AM) for procedures

This is the best nursing job I have ever had. We get good pay for mostly clinic hours. This is cancer care, there are some sad situations. However, we are many times extending lives with curative intent. If we are treating palliative care patients/hospice, we are helping with symptom relief. Overall, the job is positive despite being cancer care.

Management is good, the doctors are good. Teamwork is good but miscommunication does happen occasionally. 

Even though there are frustrating times, the good overwhelms the bad. The variety in tasks also keeps you on your toes without being overwhelming.

If you're done with the floor and odd hours but still want to have a huge, meaningful impact on patient lives, this is the job for you. Good work life balance. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 10 salaries reported	$35.55 per hour
Patient care technician 9 salaries reported	$24.00 per hour
Registered nurse - emergency room 8 salaries reported	$39.50 per hour
Registered nurse - medical / surgical 33 salaries reported	$37.33 per hour
Registered nurse - icu 23 salaries reported	$40.46 per hour

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