registered nurse

janitor

nursing assistant

pharmacy technician

nurse practitioner

Essentia Health

A typical day at work depended on if I was working in ICU or Telemetry. If I was working in ICU I was assigned 1-2 patients. I provided direct care to patients by completing admissions, discharges, transfers, nursing assessments, obtaining and initiating MD orders, frequent vital sign checks and monitoring heart rhythms. I also took part in assisting patients with personal care needs, care planning, medication administration and documentation electronicly using Encompass/EPIC. I cared for and managed patients on ventilators and also managed titration of vasopressors, sedatives and paralytics.

A typical day in Telemetry was very similar to explained above except I was assigned 3-5 patients per shift. I still completed admissions, discharges, and transfers. Also, completed nursing assessments, vital signs, medication administration, obtaining and initiating MD orders and documentation. These patients were however stable and therefore nursing assessments and vitals signs were not completed as often as needed in ICU.

Most of my co-workers were great! I developed many great friendships with many of the people I worked with and our teamwork was awesome! I learned so much from my co-workers as well. There were also certain co-workers who were constantly wanting to observe you in a mistake and report to management. As described above, this is why I left Essentia Health due to certain co-workers lying about the care I provided to my patients, which I am confident was excellent care meeting all standards. This was the most difficult part of the job. I also feel that in the end of my employment and throughout my employment, I was unfairly treated by management and administration and feel they honestly lied about a lot of information they obtained from my co-workers. I felt as if they were out to get me if you will.

As a new graduate when I first started this job, I can't even list the amount of things I learned. I had so many amazing experiences and opportunities to learn through the patients I cared for and my co-workers guiding me along the way. I feel this job has improved my nursing skills in all aspects. I also feel that I am a more competent RN and feel more confidence in the care I provide.

The most enjoyable part of the job was patient care. I enjoy nothing more than providing direct, quality nursing care to my patients. It gives me pure pride and joy. Nursing I truly believe is my true calling and passion in life.

Post-Coronary Care/Telemetry floor or 6E. Currently a 50 bed unit. The floor is often understaffed with nursing assistant most days with only one or two aides when we are supposed to have four for our massive unit. So nurses often have to do their own blood sugars and turns which isn’t the greatest.  It is nice that the telemetry room is connected to the floor so you can step in with the tele techs and see a live et hymn or the Doc can review it. 

We get a lot of TAVR, heart cath, Post-STEMI, NSTEMI, arythmies, CABG, Endocarditis. Common drips: nitro, amino, dobutamine, heparin, milrinone, metoprolol, insulin

Nurses are assigned 4 patients on day/eve shifts and 6 on NOC. They are good at not hiding on that assignment as we are a cardiac step down unit. Since our floor is large and typical staffed with 12-14 nurses sometimes we get a bit of med surg overflow, that can sometimes be nice when one has heavy cardiac patient load. Usually nurses are staffed appropriately lots of travel nurses. 

The Cardic Docs you work with are pretty good. They ask nurses any concerns or requests when they come to the floor. They value the nurses observation and opinion. A lot of good attitudes some jokesters a great bunch to work with at St. Marys

Not the most team bonding in a nursing team I’ve ever seen. There isn’t as much of a floor culture or floor events. Like you wouldn’t see a sheet for sign ups for a bonfire grill out or hiking posted in the break room. Lone wolf atmosphere if you want help ask for it. Some people offer to help but rare. The assistant nurse manager Jan is a genius with so much experience and is a great wealth of knowledge. 

Lucky assignments: the occasional 1:1 nurse sitter so you watgg ce the patient and are assigned as there RN. Frequently happens if NOCs are short or no CNA sitters are available. Plenty of room to pick up an additional 4 or 8 hours on top of your shift. 

Sadness: no shift pick up bonus, you get a $8 meal ticket for the cafeteria for picking up. Education has to be completed on site. Education time is supposed to be scheduled but I have never seen it happen. other then for a new orienting nurse. That means that education has to be completed on off days in the hospital… not fun. 

I'm really not trying to sound biased here, but aside from the wages we recieve (compared to the same department at other hospitals) and a couple higher-level managers that have their own stressors while trying to help us succeed, we have the perfect breeding ground for a toxic work environment.

We've had people in our department fall asleep at their post (multiple times) and still not get terminated, all while the rest of us get chastized for wearing the wrong color undershirt beneath our uniform. Our wages are good (when compared to the same position at other hospitals) but the extra effort you put in will not change your pay-grade; no matter how hard you work, and no matter what certifications you voluntarily get (including instructor certifications), you will still recieve the same wage increase percentage as the employee who shows up late, leaves early, and does the bare minimum while at work. I truly wish I was making this up, but I'm not, and it is truly disheartening.

We've had upper-level management attempt to address these issues, but it also seems like their hands are tied. We've also learned many things through trial-and-error that honestly should've been taught to us on day-one - including safety precautions and protocols. To be honest, it baffles me how certain departments can be run with such incompetence, especially in a medical setting.

Med/Surg 3rd floor was not simply a challenging environment—it was a highly controlled one. The culture appeared intentionally curated, favoring a narrow set of personalities and behaviors while quietly pushing out those who did not conform. What was presented as “culture fit” often felt like bias in practice.

Leadership on the unit prioritized conformity and appearance over open dialogue, diversity of thought, and genuine inclusion. Staff who questioned decisions, expressed boundaries, or brought different perspectives were often labeled as “not a good fit,” regardless of their performance or work ethic.

Despite outward claims of inclusivity, meaningful diversity was not supported. Once diversity required listening, flexibility, or advocacy, it became inconvenient. Nursing assistants in particular were consistently overlooked—our concerns minimized, our contributions undervalued, and our wellbeing treated as secondary.

This environment did not foster growth or collaboration. Instead, it filtered out individuals with independence, depth, and professionalism, leaving behind those who were expected to remain quiet and compliant. Advocacy for frontline staff was absent, not due to lack of awareness, but lack of incentive.

Professionalism is not about appearances or hierarchy—it is about leadership, accountability, and respect. Unfortunately, those qualities were consistently missing on this unit.

Those 2 managers are aware who they are.

The Cancer Center director is totally out of touch with the employees. Rarely reachable, often out of the office (without notifying team), and will provide zero feedback to employees about performance. In fact, the organization recently did away with annual reviews, so feedback is nearly nonexistent.  Director comes off as a bully if employees question anything or disagree. Staff is fearful of "landing on her bad side," creating a toxic culture.  Standout employees have left due to the current leadership, including several outstanding oncologists, which they were truly lucky to have in the first place. 

Director is in over her head and lacks in communication and employee relations skills. In addition, director seems to be lacking compassion, which is especially distressing to the staff, who are extremely dedicated and caring. It's astonishing that someone above the director has not noticed the amount of turnover over the past few years (the staff sure has). If they have noticed, it is more astonishing that said director is still in her role. There was a great nurse manager, but she too recently left the organization. Would not recommend working here unless there is a leadership overhaul that takes place first. Do your research before accepting!

My daily work included using a ticket system to solve access issues to our system. I would see a range of different problems where I would have to gather information on and solve for a permanent solution. Other activities included Active Directory account creation and system access and Epic account creation and security access. I also worked with powershell to automate business proccess and worked in Microsoft Exchange to fix users email accounts.

With my time at Essentia I learned how an office operates and what should be expected on a daily basis. Professionalism mixed with cooperation and open discussion of expected activities were three very important things I learned. Communication was also a very important skill to have. Every aspect of my job needed clear cut communication to complete task and solve problems.

The hardest part about working at Essentia Health was solving your own problems. Many times an issue would arise where you would have to find the right way to solve a problem. It involved a lot critical thinking brainstorming on how to solve issues. This was a daily situation for me but I would l always find a way to solve problems whether by myself or talking with colleagues with more experience. 

The best part of my job was working with my colleagues. The group that I got to work with was a great group to work with and I made quite a few friends there.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I have applied to this hospital multiple times and keep getting automatically rejected. The recruitment process feels extremely selective and discouraging, and my experience has not been positive. From my perspective, it does not feel like a supportive or fair place to work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I have applied to this hospital multiple times and keep getting automatically rejected. The recruitment process feels extremely selective and discouraging, and my experience has not been positive. From my perspective, it does not feel like a supportive or fair place to work.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I have applied to this hospital multiple times and keep getting automatically rejected. The recruitment process feels extremely selective and discouraging, and my experience has not been positive. From my perspective, it does not feel like a supportive or fair place to work.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I have applied to this hospital multiple times and keep getting automatically rejected. The recruitment process feels extremely selective and discouraging, and my experience has not been positive. From my perspective, it does not feel like a supportive or fair place to work.

Training was abysmal for the "PAR" team. You are "cross-trained" as both Registration and Scheduling -- what they refer to "playfully" as "schedistration" which basically means you're poorly trained for both departments. 85% is taught via computer modules with supplementation by Microsoft Teams video calls that are glorified repeat-back sessions. 15% is job shadowing by your future coworkers, who are NOT taught how to train you. Their primary excuse is that there's "not enough time to train everything."  I was never introduced to the Team Leads (who are your first contacts before management) and both of the Department Managers quit literally a week after my barely-a-month's worth of training because they were both overwhelmed by the expectation of upper management. Upper Management plays at caring about the workers, but their only concern is capturing money and clients--excuse me, ~patients~. Communication is constantly lacking. 

Gossipping coworkers and fake placations are everywhere. Make no mistake, the Business Side of a hospital is just as corporate as any other business. 

Be extremely wary of taking a position as a physician with this organization. In 2012, they withheld 3% of physician income without building consensus. They later apologized profusely, claiming they had learned from all the negative feedback about that decision. With COVID-19, they withheld 20% of physician income, again without buy-in. They continue to withhold the 20% even though our productivity is back to what it was prior to the pandemic. Although Essentia Health received millions from the federal government through the stimulus program, they have laid-off hundreds of nurses and terminated countless employees with four or five day's notice and no severance. Those of us that remain are told to do more with less. I want to leave, but I’m trapped by a non-compete and don’t want to move and leave my patients. The contract automatically renews, so there is never a chance to renegotiate. All I can do is warn other physicians away from this evil, profit-maximizing corporation. Money comes before the patient with Essentia. If you come to work for this company, just remember the best way to predict the future is to look at past behavior. First they took 3% of provider income, then 20%. Will it be 50% next time? Choose a different place to work or end up trapped like me.

I worked in a responsible position at this medical corporation until being permanently laid off due to Covid-19. This medical corporation permanently laid off 900 people (in total) shortly after the start of the global pandemic. Their main goal in terminating employees livelihoods and healthcare benefits seemed to be saving money and self survival. Most of the people at the top of the corporation of course, survived the cuts and were not terminated. If you were part of the "Clique" you are probably still there. The primary people that I worked with (physicians) were extremely narcissistic and thought only of their future incomes and career achievements and tended to put me and others into vulnerable liability positions from time to time. If you're looking for work in healthcare in the Northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, or North Dakota areas, avoid this medical corporation "like the plague"!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 5 salaries reported	$40.28 per hour
Janitor 1 salary reported	$17.04 per hour
Nursing assistant 3 salaries reported	$17.25 per hour
Pharmacy technician 20 salaries reported	$21.07 per hour
Nurse practitioner 11 salaries reported	$66.11 per hour

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