registered nurse

registered nurse - medical / surgical

surgical technician

nurse practitioner

patient care technician

East Alabama Medical Center

A typical day at work involved heavy labor. I was responsible for lifting patients of all sizes on to heavy equipment and then using said equipment to transport patients to different areas within the hospital. As lead transporter I was responsible for making sure other employees worked as expected and answering their questions when they were faced with conflict on the job. I was also responsible for training new employees. 
  I learned a lot about leadership at this job as I was put in leadership roles. I learned better communication skills as well as what it means to work as a team even when you are the leader. 
   Most would tell you that the manager of transportation is hard and unreasonable which may be true in some aspects. In my personal opinion, she was the hardest boss I've ever worked for but I am a better person and a better leader because of it. 
  I enjoyed all of my co-workers. I usually get along well with everyone I meet but I definitely came to bond with a lot of my co-workers as we were faced with a lot of hard situations, such as death of patients,  together. 
  I would say the hardest part of my job, other than the labor, was working in an environment that is mostly unpredictable. You would never know what type of mood or condition your patients would be in. Also, it was challenging working in an environment where you are exposed to so many germs, diseases and viruses that could potentially lead to death if protocol wasn't followed. 
  I loved my job because I love helping others. I was often able to see the fruit of my labor as I would watch patients heal and get to go home to their families and back to leading a normal life. I feel most rewarded when I am able to make a positive difference in someone else life and I found the opportunity to do that every day at East Alabama Medical Center.

The upper management pretends to care about you and your life when they really could not care any less. They give you a false sense of security during the interview and placement process but it’s all downhill from there. If someone in another area of management is treating you horribly, good luck getting them to do anything about it. They say they will deal with it but they don’t and you’ll continue to be overworked and under appreciated around hostile people. Taking time off is a freaking joke. God for bid you need a weekend off for a family issue or literally any other reason, you are not allowed to use the paid time off that you EARNED to cover that day for you no matter how far in advance you give them. They don’t allow you to use your paid time off however you want even though it was time you earned to use how you want. They are ALWAYS short staffed so you will find yourself doing multiple jobs at once to make up for it and being over worked and possibly even missing your law required breaks then told “oh well. You’ll get paid for it” the only thing that kept me going in my time there were some coworkers on the same level as me. You meet some amazing people but they all get ran off by the management. The only good thing this job has done for me is open other doors of opportunity for me to leave to better places that I never would have had the chance at before. And for that, thank you, but good riddance. 

Mediocre pay considering education required and high demand and responsibility of the job. Favoritism is showed amongst departments and job titles by upper management.  Some people or departments receive various raises and/or additional pay when working extra hours while others do not. Communication is often poor between management/supervisors and staff. The amount of ETO one can accrue is decent. However, don’t get sick. You do not have a sick bank, like any other company, that you can use if needing to be off only for a few days. You will have to use your ETO (vacation time). There is a long term sick bank, but you have to go through an act of Congress to use it including exhausting your regular ETO first. By the way, that long term sick bank is now going away by the end of this year. What happens to all of those unused sick hours? Well, you certainly don’t get compensated for them. You just lose them.  Under the current administration, the company has gone down in several ways. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I particularly loved the culture and I had a great department manager.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
On occasion vital information regarding protocol changes were not relayed to shift workers and were reprimanded for not knowing recent changes.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
My department was relaxed to some degree but working in the medical field everything is time sensitive.  Communication with department manager was better than with supervisor.  EAMC celebrated with staff on many occasions and made you feel like you were a part of something greater.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
As a Document Imaging Technician, a typical day begins with making rounds to all departments to pick-up hardcopies of documentation that required scanning and indexing into patient medical records.  Sorting nonessential documents to prepare scanning and indexing medical record.  Productivity of daily shift work was mandatory to determine if individual benchmarks were being met.

I worked five weeks in the Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinic and five weeks in the Diabetes and Nutrition Center. On a typical day I helped with breaking down and organizing patient files, answering the phone, sending doctors notes, scheduling and rescheduling patients, and checking in patients while having them fill out the appropriate paper work.  This required working with Cerner software. I also learned to and assisted with uploading patients' insulin pumps and ordering their lab work through both Lab Outreach and Quest.  The most enjoyable part of the job was getting to know the staff and learning how to better interact with patients coming through the clinics. I learned a lot about proper communication and organization while witnessing helpful educational classes used to inform diabetes patients.

Called to do an interview at EAMC(Valley, AL)for the detox unit that was coming. Interviewed by use to be RN who lost her licence. She asked me my age, did I have any kids and have I ever been on drugs or had a family member who had been on drugs. I remember thinking its nice for the hospital to bring in a detox unit, but need to be aware of who is running this unit. I then got a call for a second interview with another young lady who was also very unqualified and was fighting her own personal demons, she also asked the same questions about if I or a family member ever had a drug problem. I said I never had a drug problem, never answered for my family because it was myself applying for the job. She then gace me a blue book for alcholics and the twelve step recovery and told me what sections to read. I never heard back (still have the book) I guess because I wasn't on drugs or had a drug history, I didn't qualify, yet I had a B.S. in Psychology. I dodged a bullet.

I really enjoyed my 13 years of employment there. My time was cut short because of some errors I've made. I was able to transfer to different departments, and learned interesting skills  that I can take with me forever. If my time wasn't cut short, I'd still be there. My mistakes were a humbe lesson, even though I was good at my jobs there. Although, being good isn't enough in Healthcare, you have to be attentive and pay attention, especially when you're responsible for people Health.  I would love the chance to be redeemed back there, if i were given a second chance, i would be a totally different employee.  I would have the same care and compassion for my cuties, at the same time pay more attention.  I would highly recommend anyone to work there.

	Direct patient contact, collecting and recording vital signs, collecting and interpreting pregnancy tests, rapid strep and flu tests, blood glucose monitoring, wound care, casting and splint application, assistance of pelvic exams, phlebotomy, EKG specialist, suture and staple preparation, suture and staple removal. 
	Assures excellence in patient care through reducing the error rate on monthly audits with patient registration
	Receiving and documenting in the information system patient responsible payments including co-payments and time of service charges
	Quick registering patients at time of arrival, registering procedure patients, admitting patients for inpatient and observation treatment, updating and verifying chart information, verifying and filing insurance, Medicaid and Medicare Specialist, MSP advisor. 


I’ve worked here for over 7 years in several different roles and have been involved in the organization in different capacities which has been beneficial to understand how and why decisions are made and why the organization works the way it does. I used to want to work at another large employer nearby but I am more than content where I am now and would suggest come work here if you are looking for a place to land. Don’t get me wrong, there are things can could stand to change. Nursing management is young and could use some work but I really think most of them are trying their best- they are just having to clean up a big mess that was made in 2020. Come to work, do your job, speak up when you know something needs to be correct, and keep patient safety as your top priority. If you do that, you will do well here in any role. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Co-workers are family, patient ratios

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Constant changing of policies, disorganized administration 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The culture is specific to the unit you work on. The units are typically very close knit and really help each other, but it can get catty at times (like any hospital). However, we definitely do not feel adequately supported by administration. They are constantly finding ways to not pay us what we deserve, and the tech pay is laughable. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day is busy. During the week there is a ton of surgeries and discharges so there is a constant turnover of patients. You will start out with an assignment and likely have a new group of patients by the end of the day.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 6 salaries reported	$43.57 per hour
Registered nurse - medical / surgical 3 salaries reported	$43.06 per hour
Surgical technician 3 salaries reported	$29.82 per hour
Nurse practitioner 1 salary reported	$60.03 per hour
Patient care technician 3 salaries reported	$13.33 per hour

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