patient care coordinator

registered nurse

advanced practice provider

registered nurse - infusion

senior research technician

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

There are people in leadership positions without subject matter expertise, convinced that a bit of sort-of-relevant knowledge is sufficient while failing to provide anything resembling vision or original thought. They engage in meeting-sitting and hall monitor activities without constructive contribution or innovation.  Autocratic control without value, expertise or inspiration is referred to as “leadership.” This results in poor decisions and extra time and effort by those who do have expertise to compensate and fix the problems these “leaders” cause. Energy is sapped and morale is diminished in the process. This problem is multiplied when those “leaders” hire/promote other people who also lack expertise and/or have behavior issues. This is a house of cards that is spoiling what would otherwise be a great place to work. Too much of the organization falls within one reporting structure and that creates conflicts of interest and fear to speak out about the problems. For those few who do stand up and speak out, their concerns, including bullying are swept under the rug and diminished rather than confronting power to take appropriate action. Experts are over-looked for promotion if they don’t engage in these politics (read, “suck up”) and pretend that nothing is wrong. Outstanding employees have disappeared, suddenly. Rationalizing domineering, controlling behavior as “leadership” is shameful. While there are some outstanding managers/leaders at SCCA, the few poor ones create a toxic environment. Hopefully, SCCA can turn this around and get back to the great work with great people.

Still a relatively new company that has taken on too much too quickly and has serious procedure issues that management refuses to fix. Now that they are both a research and healthcare institution, these foundational process flaws have become much more apparent and directly affect patient care. When these issues are brought up, they are ignored and employees are punished if they notice them. They put money into unnecessary luxuries like a self-parking car garage and valet which is rarely used instead of actual patient care. This also means standard pay is very low and raises, bonuses, or promotions do not exist. There are also no formal performance reviews or efforts to provide positive feedback. Employee exhaustion is common and entire groups (i.e. the poorly managed breast team) have quit at one time due to burn out. It can be very difficult to work at an institution that is growing so quickly and yet refuses to change at all despite consistent concern and discontent from their employees. Instead of wanting to improve their systems or seek feedback from their employees, they choose to burn through as many people as possible because this is simply easier than addressing all of their foundational issues. I do not know many people who have lasted.
Management should be held responsible for their own shortcomings and retrained as deemed necessary instead of the blame being placed on new hires. Turnover rates have never been higher there because the company refuses to properly train their management and instead pushes their employees to the point of exhaustion. Instead of taking a hard look at the treatment of their community, they choose to use people up and then replace them. They do not value employee retention and are always desperate to hire more people. It is not somewhere that you can expect to be supported or will be able to grow.

One of the most poorly managed workplaces I've been in. Little to no opportunity for growth within departments you start in. Coworkers and benefits are what really shine within this place. 
Outside of that, poor standards and trumped up management really take this place down a notch. New projects are started in departments all the time, insane amounts of money spent on bringing outside contractors to help develop said projects but projects are never actually implemented in whole or are left "half" constructed. This wouldn't be so bad if management didn't then complain and blame staff for not implementing or doing well. Half completed projects often end up with complete standards rework, taking up weeks or months of time to be implemented only to realize they don't work and be reverted. Management does not care about the quality or consistency of work as long as no complaints are filed. ONLY when complaints are filed do they use SCCA standards to back up their claims of poor performance from employees. Policies that don't make sense reign supreme. Rigid and unadabtable management will stifle growth or positive changes no matter how small or simple. Favortisim plays a large key as to how well your treated/tolerated within the department. Hardest workers who don't get along with management will rarely be supported. Overall morale and attitude towards work by those involved is best described as hopeless. Workload increases are sudden and unannounced even when management has prior knowledge. There is no actual coverage system so you must ask fellow coworkers in advance for proper coverage. Though sick days are in place, management presses for not using them even at risk to patients and coworkers.

I loved my job at SCCA. I worked within a team that was absolutely wonderful. I loved my patients and was dedicated to helping each and every one of them and did not see myself ever leaving SCCA. I had good relationships with my colleagues. Gossip was an issue at times but not a problem if you stay out of it and just do your job. The manager that hired me was great. She was flexible if I had an appointment. She was supportive. I had a great review just a few months before I left aside from absences for medical reasons. 

Then new, young, inexperienced managers were brought on and within two months I was fired along with my coworker on my team for a reason that is still baffling and unwarranted. I was told “it’s an at will state.” There is no nursing union so there is no recourse except the attorney I am working with for a discriminatory termination suit (I believe it’s because they knew I was getting ready to file for FMLA). I was devastated. I cried for weeks. I’m a single mom to a special needs child still waiting for unemployment which I don’t even know if it will be approved since I was fired. Right now the backlog for unemployment is 12-15 weeks. I’m out of savings and can’t even pay rent next month. 

Overall, I loved my job before new nursing supervisors were hired. Watch your back if you are accepting a job in hem/heme malignancies at the South Lake Union Campus. They are very short staffed, not flexible, and you will be considered disposable with no union to protect you. 

The Medical Assistants are paid really well and even think they are overpaid. A lot of the MAs made a lot starting off—and fresh out of school, compared to me with 5 years of experience and working my way up. 

The back office work is easy, but heavy. You work under the orders of mainly the nurses but also some of the providers. I felt secluded and unacknowledged by the clinic nurse manager while the MA manager was on the other floor. Lots of favoritism and special treatment for those who have a title of an RN or higher and people who have been there for many years. The clinical care nurses are “nice”. Their personalities seem forced and not genuine. They are very very cliquey. 

One of the nurse managers always secluded and isolated the MAs for meetings, updates and huddles, when we are all part of the same team. Even though she wasn’t the direct manager, we all worked together. I felt small and insignificant—mostly got the paperwork and FMLA stuff that the nurses don’t want to fill out.
The RNs can’t even fax a measly single sheet of paper themselves. 

I ultimately don’t think that their method of the ‘clinical care neighborhood’ and being told what to do by six or seven nurses, while being the only MA in the pod is a good workflow. It’s intimidating and they make you feel unimportant. 

It was difficult coming into work everyday when the nurses talked amongst themselves and everyone else just clicking away on their computer not saying a word. Awkward environment and the small talk made me cringe. 

The rooming MAs had it a lot better than the back office ones (even if the MA II’s got paid more).

Stay away from admin work. It’s boring as he**. 

This experience was deeply damaging, and I strongly advise anyone considering a role here to think very carefully before accepting.

I made major life decisions based on representations during recruitment, including relocating across the country. After joining, it became clear that the structure, support, and academic environment I was expecting simply did not exist. The gap between what was presented during interviews and the reality on the ground was shocking.

There is little emphasis on mentorship, training, or developing early-career professionals. Despite being presented as an academic environment, the culture felt transactional and administrative, with constant pressure around funding and metrics rather than learning or growth.

Communication was inconsistent, expectations shifted without clarity, and raising concerns felt risky rather than constructive. Instead of guidance, the environment created anxiety, self-doubt, and instability.

What made this especially difficult was the lack of accountability. Decisions affecting people’s careers were made with minimal transparency, and the human cost of those decisions seemed largely ignored.

This was not just a disappointing job — it had real personal and professional consequences for me. I would not recommend this environment to anyone seeking mentorship, stability, or genuine academic development.

Proceed only if you are fully prepared to protect yourself and get everything in writing.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working for cancer patients you know your there for them making sure they get the treatment they deserve.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Hired as a CDL class A truck driver and your doing house keeping janitor work vacuuming sweeping mopping throughout trash cleaning restrooms and driving people around town that have cancer and sometimes Covid.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Working with doctors and nurses and cancer patients with and without Covid. The job is highly stressful because you’re hired as a class a truck driver and your regular duties have nothing to do with driving a 18 wheeler truck and trailer. And your requirements are you must work 14 hours daily so getting home late barely spending time with family and getting little sleep. They expect you to be back to work early in the morning without excuses there is no excuse for being late they don’t give chances they will fire you. So to work for fred hutch you must be willing to work 14 hours every single day 5 days a week.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
1% Truck Driving the rest of the time I was a janitor, patient helper driving them around town while they have cancer and sometimes they have Covid. It wasn’t pleasant cleaning up throwing up liquid in the vehicle. I was having to wear a mask 14 hours a day.

I have a great deal of autonomy at work where I set my work schedule and daily tasks based on the priorities of the work I need to accomplish.  I work with a diverse group of highly trained and educated individuals who have their own vision of how they want things done. Through working with them I have learned how to direct and lead stakeholders to achieve a common goal despite opposing viewpoints. Management allows for ideas to flow and encourages creativity in finding ways to improve processes which are result driven.  The culture is team oriented with a value placed on helping each other be successful. The hardest part of my job is managing with no authority.  I am responsible for achieving the goals set for the service line, however no one directly reports to me.  I need to get support and buy in through trust and ability to consistently deliver results.  The most enjoyable part of my job is being successful at engaging with and encouraging stakeholders to achieve set goals.  I believe the best way to promote change is to engage and collaborate with the people who are doing the work.  If you encourage people to come up with solutions to problems and direct them toward resolution rather than give them the solution you will have better results that are sustainable.

SCCA was a top notch place to bring patients and I believed it would continue to get better as it grew. The Peter Principle applies wholeheartedly to this organization that has allowed itself to grow too rapidly without a solid foundation. (The principle that members of a hierarchy are promoted until they reach the level at which they are no longer competent.)
Currently I watch upper management refuse to prioritize the clinic wide initiatives and necessary work to build a strong, solid foundation of a healthcare organization with such promise. Our Continuous Process Improvement department (aka The Toyota Way) continues to be funded and rebuilt, year after year, with devastating results to the organization including the statement continually taken out of context "No more time, money, resources". Applying automotive lean processes to a unique oncology clinic that is benchmarking clinical trials one patient at a time is an oxymoron.
As I watch clinic wide initiatives, continue to be dreamt up every 6 months, and none having come to fruition in 4+ years, I've decided it's time for me to move onto someplace where I can have a positive impact on patients and make a difference.

I started working here as a CNA a few months back and I really like it! Orientation was disorganized and a bit chaotic the first week, but after orientation everything sorted itself out. I had 8 shifts shadowing the CNA's on the floor which prepared me very well for the job, and everyone is super nice and happy to help. Coming from bedside where I was overworked and constantly stressed, this job is so much better and not nearly as hard mentally and physically! Turnover is low, majority of the people seem happy, and management genuinely cares and listens. The shifts are usually 8-10 hrs long which isn't bad. Weekend pay differentials and paid trainings too, not to mention the free catering on holidays! This is the perfect job for you if you want a chill environment that's steady and fosters learning and growth. My only complaints: parking is EXTREMELY hard to find and most employees resort to parking in the patient garage. Scheduling shifts can sometimes be hard if you're per diem and there's no open shifts available, same with if you're FTE and get scheduled on days that you can't work- having to ask people to cover you instead of getting out of a shift can be bothersome.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Patient care coordinator 9 salaries reported	$31.98 per hour
Registered nurse 6 salaries reported	$67.84 per hour
Advanced practice provider 12 salaries reported	$163,664 per year
Registered nurse - infusion 8 salaries reported	$62.93 per hour
Senior research technician 6 salaries reported	$65,200 per year

Working at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: Company Overview and Reviews

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Ratings

Popular jobs at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected