senior police officer

police sergeant

assistant professor

health screener

postdoctoral associate

George-Washington-University

Before I start, I must mention that this depends completely on what floor you work on, and what position. This review pertains to being a Patient Care Tech in the rehab wing, which is shared with ortho/neuro. Beware: there is a HUGE turnover rate here. Let that be an indicator.

From the first day of being there, I could tell how unhappy the staff was, from the Techs to the nurses, from the janitors to the secretaries. If it was ever possible, the mood got worse as time went on, largely thanks to the immediate nursing managers. People are desperate to move on with their lives after spending just a few months in this wing. 

Scheduling: 12 hour days are hard enough as it is. The manager who makes the schedule will change it last minute, so remember to check her work the SECOND it comes out. Warning for the newbies, you will be given leftover shifts that your "seniors" do not fill. That means adjusting your sleeping cycle a good 2-4 times per week. It's normal to feel as if no one, especially the managers, cares about you, as long as the schedule is filled.

Management: Currently, there are 3 nurse managers. 2 of them (will not name names) will yell and squabble right in front of everyone (but will give the staff a long lecture about professionalism). They will say incredibly offensive things about you behind your back to other staff members. A new rule/regulation will be posted just about every 2 weeks, depending on the managers' mood, making it hard for anyone to follow. They will seem to play dumb when it comes to employee complaints, yet make excuses for their own short comings and point the finger at nurses/techs when our HCAPS ratings go down. We will forever be understaffed, mis-scheduled, and mistreated. Oh and as stated before, fight tooth and nail for your schedule, it will be different from the one you submit to them, no matter how early you present it to the scheduling manager.

Nurses: Most are very very good, but you will get sucked into their drama that they have with each other. The rehab side has older/slower nurses, while ortho/neuro will generally have younger/more active nurses. Thus, less teamwork on the rehab side. SOME nurses will ignore their pages so the techs will have to take so much of it on their own. One nurse specifically, would hide in empty rooms to avoid work, but that's only one. Was it a coincidence that she seems to be the main brown-noser with the managers too?

In summary: This department specifically, can seem like a bad high school drama for the most part. Even if you're not part of the drama, it will affect your day, schedule, and workload. If you're a tech, forget most of what you learned in the medical field about actual medicine; you will be for the most part, wiping butts and cleaning beds, all while being yelled at. If you want to learn, advance, and really use your clinical skills, try going to another department such as the ED. You will not be learning nor advancing very much in this dept.

After several years of working at GW, I left for a number of reasons. One was the commute, which of course is beyond the employer’s control. However, after mostly working from home for a couple of years due to the pandemic, having to commute to Foggy Bottom to be in the office four days a week turned out to be exhausting.

A major advantage of working at GW: the benefits. In particular I greatly appreciated the tiered medical insurance contributions for full-time employees. For example, looking at the university’s benefits information for 2023, an employee paid bi-weekly who earns between $35-50k and chooses the PPO option would contribute $38.25 of each paycheck toward medical insurance, while someone paid bi-weekly earning between $90-130k would contribute $64.14 per paycheck. GW also offers a High Deductible Health Plan which requires a smaller contribution from the employee. Additionally, it seems that the university’s pay structure is somewhat more generous than those of some other area institutions of higher education.

A major drawback of working at GW: processes that are often unclear and on which little training is offered and for which incomplete information is found only after much searching. Employees waste time trying to find information on how to do certain tasks or trying to track down someone who could help explain. Frequently it felt like reinventing the wheel, which in this day and age is ludicrous.

Overall, GW has also been slow to embrace technology. For example, only a few years ago employee timekeeping was done on paper and by each department individually.

Of course, academia itself is a different world than the business world. The modern top-heavy structure of many universities is evident at GW–the number of assistant and associate deans was astounding, while the number of employees doing real work in the trenches often should have been higher. In the summer of 2020 the university laid off a number of employees and tried to consolidate various services (which until then had generally been siloed within each college/school), but did not adequately for this transition and created frustrating problems–for example, IT help was suddenly much more difficult to get.

As in most jobs, your department and immediate supervisors largely set the tone. Sometimes you’re fortunate in that regard and other times not. 


Many kind people work at GW, but the university does not encourage a culture of collaboration. Put differently, the university is robust with information silos and unresponsive departments that create slow and irregular workflow. Oftentimes, you must "go it alone" to teach yourself about a business process. When raising solutions based on your first-hand experience with University Leadership, advice from employees is rarely heeded, as they prefer to hire outside contractors. 

Daily workflow is largely stress free since there is little accountability beyond your own unit to see items get completed in a timely manner.  You must have patience and an ability to work independently because getting help from other departments is disappointingly difficult. The university is also very strict about working on-campus, and is not very friendly to hybrid or remote work, even when your unit doesn't usually engage with students or the public in-person. In addition, the university's aged technology systems and weak IT support further complicate daily workflow. There is a lot of red tape and no training for employees who work across different departments, aside from the scattered plethora of difficult-to-find website info pages. 

University Leadership has had a very rough few years since 2019 and will hopefully recruit a more qualified President soon. GW is a solidly average place to work with kind people and OK pay and benefits. The merit program needs to be better, however, since it is not competitive for retaining employees. The retirement vesting probationary period should also be eliminated and the university should invest in all regular employees upon employment from any sector. To retain employees, Leadership must do more to provide an incentive to stay and must make workflow smarter by investing in updated technology systems and improving backend processes.

Enterprise wide, GW has one of the worst workplace environments I have ever seen. For such a prestigious and established Institution, the University severely lacks in innovation, business acumen, change management, and technology. The culture is toxic; Leadership has been enabled for many years and are ineffective and self-serving. The industry of higher education is notoriously corrupt, and GW fits the bill; Faculty across the board are not held accountable for their actions. Some of them quite literally do not show up for work. They talk down to non-faculty and expect special treatment from policy or procedure. 

Additionally, there are so few resources available for development. There are no skills-training offered at GW; Managers receive no training and are not supported. There are no incentives for development and there are no succession plans in place.

University wide, there are people in Leadership positions, grandfathered into roles that require business acumen, and quite frankly, they've got none. We label them as the "raised by GW's".... And why would they leave? They're overpaid, don't do much, and are getting away with it. Meanwhile, the individuals who get their hands dirty and have an affinity for the mission, are underpaid and extremely undervalued. There are some units with 100% turnover. 100%!

The people make this workplace a home.  I am lucky to have worked with many of the same people for decades, and consider this my second family.  The students come and go, but the staff remains fairly constant.  That stability is important to me.
Working at an institution of higher education means you may not make that much money, but that you are surrounded by learning opportunities,   Sometimes office drama can turn our workplace into Peyton Place, but most of the time I feel supported and loved.

Due to continuing improvements with our database, the once frantic pace of this office has mellowed, and we can concentrate on fine-tuning our customer service.  

The hardest part of the job, over the years, has been learning to listen to people and letting them fully express their concerns, without rushing in to "fix" their problem.  Seeing the whole person--not just their problem--affects the outcome of my work.

The most enjoyable parts of working here are working with people whom I know so well, meeting new students and finding things in common, and having opportunities to speak to students in other languages.  That's when I feel the most relaxed.  But sometimes, just a long, mindless data entry job can be very soothing, too!

Typically, I commute in to Washington with the bus, then either visit the copy machine before class, or go directly to class and prepare to teach early, warming up the projectors for my technology classroom. I teach two 50 minute classes, with a 45 minute break in between. I often have to walk a few blocks to my second class, as it is an urban campus. I get my exercise! The students on this campus are very bright and challenging to work with, in a very positive way. I enjoy my mornings!

Unfortunately, because our classrooms are spread out on the GW campus, I do not see my colleagues much. We also teach at different times, so we all commute into Washington at different times, as well. 

The hardest part of my job is maybe the commute! I love my work, but the commute takes a chunk of time out of my day, and I am very much impacted by traffic and weather on the way to work.

The most enjoyable aspect of my work is the interaction with my students. I fully enjoy seeing them progress in their language learning. I also love to interact with my colleagues when we find time!

The International Business Department was fascinating to me. I saw first-hand the different in a state-funded university and a private university.

My professors traveled internationally on nearly a monthly basis so I found it interesting to hear of their experiences and meeting with manufactuors or educators in foreign countries. I filed all expense reports upon the faculty members return and translated the bills filed in foreign dollars to U.S. Dollars.

I ordered all supplies for the office, greeted students or visitors as they visited our department, created the room assignments for classes, etc.

The hardest part for me was the amount of money that was available to the department for faculty meetings, entertaining visitors, etc. Coming from ASU where we pinched pennies, it was an adjustment as well as an eye-opener as to the differences in the two institutions.

My faculty members were wonderful and never failed to thank me for my contributions to the department and my willingness to learn and experience new things.

On any given day you could work in a variety of positions, patient care technician, unit secretary, monitor room technician,  one-to-one sitter, or work in another area of the hospital. Working here allowed you to cross train in various departments which was both interesting and at times overwhelming. Some units have varied times for required assessments such as blood glucose screenings and vital signs. Depending on the unit you could have a variance in the timed assessment based on the requirements of the patient such as vital signs one per shift, every four hours, or timed phlebotomy exams. Some of the cons are that there are some employees who do not want to help you complete the tasks for their patients, but I guess that this is the case at most jobs. Another con is the units are at times understaffed, so those who are scheduled to work may have to do as many as two assignments or double work load in order to get the same task accomplished that would normally take less time.

A typical workday At George Washington is never typical. Here is why, because I work in a Hospital setting, where saving lives and helping lives is our priority, so its always an eventful day, but never knowing what will occur. I do codes for Hospital emergencies, I answer incoming calls, I page doctors for hospital emergencies, I set up doctors and staff for surgeries, It never a typical day, but its never a boring day, and its always a learning day. The University is also attached to the hospital, so you also have a diversity of people and diplomats that have come through the doors of George Washington University Hospital. I have learned skills at George Washington Hospital, that I probably would have never learned anywhere else, because I was not interested in them. I am so glad that I did learn the Information Technology skill, because now that is a skill I have learned and will be  able to use for  life, no matter where I go. I love the people I work with, and the experience I have learned is invaluable.

Working at George Washington University Hospital in the Emergency Department has been one of the most disheartening experiences of my nursing career. What was once a highly respected unit has become a shell of its former self. There are virtually no raises, and the bonuses are negligible—especially considering the stress and workload.

If you’re a staff nurse, don’t expect much help from techs—they’re stretched far too thin to meaningfully assist. The majority of the hospital’s money goes to travelers, which creates a huge pay disparity and adds to the tension. There’s no real sense of seniority or support for long-term staff—everything just gets dumped on whoever is available.

Unsafe practices are the norm: unstable patients are routinely dropped into rooms without warning or proper handoff, and nurses are expected to manage it all—meds, procedures, transport, family updates—often with no backup.

Bottom line: If you’re looking for a place with safe staffing, team support, and even basic appreciation, this isn’t it. I wouldn’t recommend this ED to anyone who cares about their license, their health, or their future in nursing.


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior police officer 11 salaries reported	$30.66 per hour
Police sergeant 11 salaries reported	$76,699 per year
Assistant professor 6 salaries reported	$105,000 per year
Health screener 9 salaries reported	$36.35 per hour
Postdoctoral associate 7 salaries reported	$65,626 per year

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