registered nurse

registered nurse - medical / surgical

respiratory therapist

registered nurse - oncology

registered nurse - icu

HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital

My time at Fawcett Memorial in 2013 I had eleven years of experience as a RN  which I believed could be resourceful for both nurse and patient advocacy. Luckily my years within the profession allowed me to adjust quickly despite the horrendous lack of leadership and management. Unfortunately the majority of the remaining nursing staff were new graduates and new hires, non of which should have to start their careers having few role models to guide them, while at the same time being subjected to  such poor  employee moral.surrounding them. Nonetheless I was optimistic about the future role of nurses which would allow them to be more proactive as patient advocates knowing they now had the support of the newly imposed Nurses Union.
    After two years of working with management along with the union as a union rep I could no longer justify the lack of effort on both sides to improve the poor working conditions my co workers and patients endured daily..During the two years I regret to inform the people within our community that Fawcett Memorial failed to meet any expectations or improvements that their employees and family entrusted them to do so.
As a nurse I believe everyone including our employers have the right to better themselves. Fawcett  showed complete lack of empathy and professionalism for the efforts so many people put into trying to make Fawcett Memorial the family who takes care of our family.

I worked in various roles: cardiac care nurse, IV therapy, facility nurse educator.  In all of these roles, creativity was encouraged, autonomy was expected, and results were recognized.  My self-confidence was enhanced, my ability to lead and mentor others was promoted and my role within the team was great.  We were all there for the purpose of being a nurse: make a difference, work with each other and not have hidden agendas, the environment was fun and enjoyable.  Many of my co-workers are still friends after almost 30 years.  It was a friendly environment.  The hardest part of my role was to work with the physicians.  The physicians at that time had the hierarchy mindset.  I was not used to this culture.  The most enjoyable was the fun, laughter and friendships that were created.  The patients were the prime focus but we all worked together to make the day the best it could be.  We were there to make a difference as a team-- not a single person worked in isolation.  There were no boundaries to the assignments- you pitched in to get things done.  No one left without making sure the entire team was done.

I have never worked for a hospital system less interested in its staff, and in turn less interested in patient safety, than this hospital.  The staff is worked at a bare minimum level and walking in the doors you already know you are going to have an impossible and horrible day, your just not sure how bad its going to be.  They have no support staff so the nurses and aides have all the responsibility.  No discharge nurses, IV team, admission help, and limited transportation.  In essence, with limited transportation the only thing they do are take patients to procedures.  Other than that it is up to the nurses and aides, who already are maxed out, to bring patients to lobby to be discharged or to move them if there is a room change.  You have 6 patients and expect discharges to be done within two hours.  This on top of having 1 aide to 16 or more patients. It is scary, dangerous and disheartening that this is the area i have family and this is the place they may end up.  The worst is when they drop patients to your room and never tell you.  Patients can sit for up to 40 minutes without anyone knowing they are there.

Meditech is an awful EHR. It’s proprietary to HCA- I understand that they developed it decades ago to pull data. It’s not user friendly. If you’re cerner or epic savvy, Meditech is a DOS based charting nightmare. It was impossible to learn the system quickly which makes for a frustrating experience. The CVSD consisted more of ICU type patients- a 4:1 ratio is not conducive to properly caring for patients. The Meditech system prohibits you from navigating essential nursing aspects of care in a timely manner. Things like meds, labs, new orders, initiating protocol based care, physician consults, shift & time designated assessment charting, inability to quickly (and with ease) contact physicians made it the most frustrating nursing experience. With only one computer in each  room (and 2 patient beds), you don’t have much time since it’s shared. There’s no WOWs, so you must have luck and skill trying to find a computer to chart at. You can’t focus in the simple act of providing nursing care. 


Fawcett Memorial Hospital was a great place to learn the medical side of things. The typical days were very busy and demanding. I learned a lot at Fawcett, like how insurances work and what is considered emergent and not. I also learned how to deal with difficult patients. Management was okay they are supper busy 24/7. The work place was very friendly for the most part everyone seemed to know your name even if you didn't work in that part of the hospital. I was like one big family. The hardest part of my job was collecting money from uninsured patients. The stressful part was working in the ER and expected to do everything with just two people. I most enjoyable part of my job was working with the billing department. This is were I learned most about how much the insurance covers and how to calculate the patients portion. I loved helping people with billing complaint to either educate them on why the bill is that high or find and fix the mistake that was made on the bill.

When I was hired as an LPN float I was told I would only be floated to areas of the hospital that I was trained in. A couple weeks into orientation I was thrown into the covid ICU due to the increasing number of cases in the state. Normally I would have no problem with that, but I was not trained in the ICU, plus there isn't much an LPN can do in the ICU med. wise. I never finished orienting and have just been thrown on to random floors where I have to figure out everything on the fly. There is no hazard pay for working with covid positive patients either, they fit test you for an n95 when you get hired, then will give you the wrong size when you're on the floor. Working here means you're basically just a glorified PCT that can give out meds. Management can be hard to get in contact with and will ignore your complaints for as long as possible. Other nurses will try to get you to do things that are outside of your scope of practice, ignore them. Be careful working here and remember that it is your license on the line.

At first, Fawcett seemed like a friendly place to work and grow as a professional. Training was very unbalanced and some may have a training where their week in ER was packed, while others experience 0 ER activity during their rotation during orientation and so forth. Team leaders, who have been tasked with teaching new hires to hospitals locations, procedures, equipment, and so forth are more preoccupied with why a new hire has been assigned to ER or an ICU and not them then they are about proper training. Low patient reviews and poorly satisfied physicians caused census to drop, thus causing management to lay staff off without notice. Nursing staff was fantastic. Very patient with new hires and ready to help wherever they can. Poor parking availability for employees, making them park blocks away and walking or waiting for a security cart to pick you up.

I will say a lot of employees (in all departments) are very depressed and not into the patients care, they show no hospitality, I am EVS, and I pick up slack THAT I AM AUTHORIZED to do, everyday , THEY NEED A HUGE TURN AROUND IN STAFF. GET RID OF THE PEOPLE WHOM ARE LAZY AND DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE. Since I am NON MEDICAL there is not a whole lot I can do with the patients , and although I would love to pursue nursing , I could never commit because l know I would have more drive than half of these nurses put together, which in return would cause me stress and agony . I will say the dietary department needs a huge revamp, if they don't want malnutrition in patients anymore. PETTY MUCH ALL OF THE DIETARY AIDS DON'T WANT TO BE THERE AND ARE ONLY There FOR THE PAYCHECK..  Sad to say many hospitals are just like this ....... understaffed and only worried about $$$

A typical day at work varies due to rotating different areas of the hospital, i.e ortho patients in the morning and neuro patients in the afternoon.
I learn new things everyday, assisting the PT with evaluating the post hospital plan of care.
I feel my management team is very knowledgeable and they are very approachable with all and any questions.
The culture at Fawcett Memorial is non punitive.
The hardest part of my job is not being able to fulfill the wishes of the patients and families at certain times.
The most enjoyable part of the job is watching patients improve their overall independence with my guidance.

Wonderful work Culture, I enjoyed going to work everyday. I knew that even if I was floated to a different unit that day they treated me fair. The whole hospital had a very family like atmosphere. Yes it was VERY quick pace (I worked Cardiac Unit) but even in the midst of the responsibility and time-crunch to get everything done on time, I still felt peace and joy working there. The other CNAs were fair in spliting assignments and I can easily ask any of the CNAs and even Nurses to help during a 2 person bath and they would WITHOUT grumbling (for the most part).

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 25 salaries reported	$34.95 per hour
Registered nurse - medical / surgical 1 salary reported	$33.42 per hour
Respiratory therapist 11 salaries reported	$33.38 per hour
Registered nurse - oncology 10 salaries reported	$34.10 per hour
Registered nurse - icu 2 salaries reported	$36.78 per hour

Working at HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital: Company Overview and Reviews

HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital

HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital Ratings

Popular jobs at HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected