registered nurse

licensed practical nurse

medical assistant

patient care technician

patient access representative

Mercy

If you don't want to waste time with another turnaround job, please read this. 

The management at my location is horrible. Absolutely no communication or care for co-worker needs. It's like pulling teeth to get a response. There's been multiple times where I missed a check, wasn't included in group emails, and missed education deadlines (that I would be faulted for) due to the lack of communication. During my first three weeks of training on site, there were supposed to be weekly follow up meetings with your supervisor/management. I did not meet one single person of authority until 2 months after working there. 

No communication between day/night shift coworkers as well. There's been multiple incidents during staff change report where the medical/health condition was not listed for a patient (such as MRSA, Co-vid) or simply not taken seriously and they could still be out on the unit. If you don't make yourself known to every single staff member or supervisor, your presence will go unnoticed. Day shift alone treats night shift drastically different due to miscommunication of work that needs to be done. Favoritism is played greatly when it comes to last minute shift changes or requests. The hard work of technicians with combative patients is significantly under appreciated. While you are dealing with such patients (which isn't often, I'll be honest), no one one rushes to your aid unless it becomes physical. Whilst RNs or other BHTs are being rewarded for reorganizing clerical work or finding inventory for a patient that THEY threw away! 

The paper work for the shift is mostly mundane and consistent, it's easy to get used to doing. Overtime, you will become close to the techs you work your unit with. But God forbid you get scheduled on another unit with a different set of staff. You'll stick out like a sore thumb. The patients vary in behavior, of course, but are fairly easy to work with otherwise. The job duties themselves aren't the issue, it's all the BTS that will make you contemplate quitting. Do not allow others to make you do more work than what you are assigned and trained to do (especially during training/orientation). Or allow staffing to make you run around to multiple units just because they don't know about to communicate with others. Trust me, someone will try it. 

The pay and benefits are minimally decent. But for the work you do and risk you put yourself at with patients, especially during this pandemic, it is not enough. You never really learn anything, apart from the sadness you adapt when working with these patients, which is a given. There's obviously good days with co-workers and patients, but nowhere near enough to outweigh the bad. It sucks knowing that as a technician you can't genuinely help them, but can only simply keep them physically safe from themselves temporarily. 

I’ve been working at Mercy OKC for some time now and as with any place there are good and bad. Unfortunately, the bad vastly outweighs the good here. Mercy OKC lab is a “Mercy Hub” which means it gets all the lab work from all the surrounding areas. As you can imagine, that makes it pretty busy. What happens when you take all of Oklahoma’s nursing homes, hospitals and labs and send those to one central location but don’t move the appropriate amount of resources or people? I think it’s pretty obvious. ALOT of mistakes. Mistakes that affect patient care. Mistakes that probably affect a lot of lives. Management could care less when you bring this up and they just scream about how unproductive we are and how the productivity numbers are terrible. So even if a specimen may be inappropriate, just run it and see what happens. Their solution? add more outpatient care, add more clinics, give us more and more even though we don’t have the staff or resources to do it. They’re trying to make it a reference lab, but without investing any money at the place that’s actually performing the testing. Something breaks and it takes months to get any kind of replacement. Staff turnover is terrible and makes for an incredibly difficult work environment because no one has any clue how to do their jobs. So the ones that actually do either stop caring or have to pick up after them. Now, let’s talk about space. Mercy hospital was built 40+ years ago with a lab that probably was well suited for the population at that time. Now however, it’s people scrambling all over each other to do their work. It’s like a rat in a maze. The saddest part of all this is that there are extremely unqualified people running lab work. People who could care less about double checking patient information to spot mislabeling, people who have no clue why they are doing what they are doing and being under all the stress of having to multitask and be more efficient because we can’t afford to hire another person just makes everyone care even less. I could write a book and this is just what I can think of in this moment. I think the takeaway from this is that with hospitals needing to do more and more testing and insurance wanting to pay less and less this is going to be the norm going forward. But hey, the good is if you do get hired on you’re here as long as you need. I’ve seen some pretty major mistakes get made and no one got disciplined. The PTO is great if you can use it. Managers can not show up for a week and it’s fine, but you need a week off? They’ll give you a hard time and harass you about it.

I am well into my third year at Mercy and have experienced a lack of adequate staffing from day one. We are chronically and severely understaffed which directly affects patient care and employee morale. Due to the mandate of an experimental vaccine, the staffing situation is now dire. We are operating on a skeleton crew which is causing burnout. We have lost a lot of loyal, hard-working employees in the last year for a myriad of reasons related to poor management.

While I adore my direct supervisor, at times I feel as though upper management is out of touch with the day to day activities and needs of most locations. They tend to make and enforce decisions without fully understanding how those decisions are going to affect us. Numbers are important, but employees make things happen. I wish they were more willing to listen to and resolve employee frustrations without the need to resort to ultimatums, such as resignation. 

The benefits are good and the atmosphere is great despite the ever-present and growing stress. I think compensation is mostly fair. They just raised the minimum wage for new hires, but have not yet appropriately compensated those who have suffered through the Covid crisis for the last 18 months. They do provide annual raises and are pretty good at recognizing talent and work ethic when deserved, even if sometimes overdue. 

Additional Pros: appreciation lunches, coworker events, education reimbursement, on the job training, overtime/on call opportunities. 

Additional Cons: Strident policies, slow to adapt to changes

Overall, I like my position and I enjoy working for Mercy. As with every business, it has its pros and cons - many of which are directly affected by your immediate supervisor and coworkers, but also can be a result of upper management. I do believe if you are willing to work hard, you will eventually be rewarded here. There are definitely people within the organization who are willing to go to bat for you. 

My hopes for the future:
1. Reconsider their stance on the mandate or offer an alternative like weekly testing, as SSM has just done. We can't afford to lose anymore coworkers. 
2. Quicker resolution response times to employee satisfaction surveys/complaints. 
3. Clear cut career path opportunities/adequate compensation for high performers. Keeping talent at Mercy pays dividends. 

Red flags popped up from the time I applied for a job at Mercy. It takes forever for someone to call you for an interview, and then it takes forever to get a job offer. Try calling anyone in HR for anything and you're wasting your time. Nobody knows how to answer the phone and they've never heard of returning messages. The only way I could ever get ahold of someone was to call 20 times a day and hope that one time they'd pick up the phone. They're also terrible about processing any employee paperwork that needs to be taken care of in order for you to do your job.

For being a company that prides itself in its expert employees, they sure don't want to pay a decent wage for those experts. They absolutely will not negotiate salary, and it's the lowest offer I've ever received from any hospital I've worked at. The insurance is terrible as well. The premiums aren't too bad, but you'll more than make up for it if you ever have to make an appointment for anything. There is always some extra charge that always seems to be tacked on that isn't covered by insurance when it should be. The free wellness exams aren't actually free because of this, and that is even if you go to one of their preferred physicians. Don't expect to get a prescription card either because they seem to forget to mail that out. Instead, you must call the insurance company and get the policy number to give to the pharmacy.

Mercy doesn't care at all about providing quality patient care. Their only concern is having warm bodies that can hopefully do the job. They are always short staffed, and instead of hiring the appropriate number of employees, they just wear the employees they've got too thin.

Mercy brags about its ministry to new employees, but that is all a joke too. The only thing they care about is the cash flowing in, but then they'll poor mouth like they have no money. They also brag in orientation that they don't waste money on advertising. Instead, they put that money back into the hospital for improvements. Turn on the TV though and you'll see more Mercy advertisements than any other hospital in the area.

The only positive thing Mercy has going for itself is that there are some really nice doctors that work there. They are very great to work with. As with any hospital though, there are the rude ones as well.

Ultimately poor patient care which will result in a patient or co-worker getting hurt some day soon if things don't change. Work short staffed almost daily because turn over rate is so bad - nothing done to fix the problem. Get taken advantage of daily because of my knowledge of a variety of positions. Multiple people required to work several different positions at the same time resulting in very poor patient care. When mistakes get made people get written up despite the pressure they have to work under. Co-workers are afraid to voice their concerns at risk of retaliation from management. When you do voice your concern nothing changes and management gives a generic response to the situation. Almost always retaliated against after voicing concern. They have actually stood at the time clock to see who is clocking out "early" even though we are allowed to clock in/out 7 minutes early/late per hospital wide policy. Pulled people in the office to talk to them about clocking out early even though it's okay per policy. Try to get people to come back from FMLA maternity leave early by calling and harassing them about their amount of available PTO. Try to write people up for being late even though they have intermittent FMLA that applies towards the tardies. Only allowed four occurrences (call-ins) per 12 month rolling calendar. Policies aren't applied to everyone in department. Some people get in trouble for tardies or call-ins while others are constantly tardy and nothing happens - favorites are played and retaliation applied here. Supervisors lack understanding of policies which leads to "corrective action" and people being written up where it doesn't apply. Management consistently lies to co-workers to smooth over situations. Lack of communication from management to co-workers and among each other. Different people in management will want different things from you that contradict what someone else in management wants - in the end one supervisor is mad that you didn't follow what they wanted even though you followed what someone else wanted. All this leads to an extremely unhappy department and to a hostile work environment because no one is happy.

I took a job in the pharmacy as a technician and loved the working atmosphere, initially.  The pharmacy is very fast paced and not enough staff due to constant technician turnover.  The technician manager who oversees the pharmacy technicians developed a personal dislike for me because I questioned some of her decisions related to medication safety and proper practice acts.  She did everything she could to call me out to the pharmacy director every chance that she could.  I noticed this was a common thing with her with certain technicians and pharmacists there.  If she didn't like you, she would make your work environment more difficult.  This was reported to HR by other pharmacy technicians numerous times and she was still allowed to continue to do this to others.  Once you went to HR and filed a complaint the situation would get even worse.  This leads me to believe HR was telling her who was making complaints against her.  I finally could not take the hostile work environment and got another job at another pharmacy.  The turnover in the pharmacy is the highest I have ever seen in a pharmacy.  I am shocked that HR has not seen the constant turnover and took action with this individual.  She is the reason for constant turnover.    It has been reported numerous times and the turnover numbers speak for themselves.  She plays favorites in the pharmacy and gossips about other coworkers to her favorites.  They spread false stories about people they do not like.  If you get on her bad side she will expect you to work extra because they cant keep technicians in the pharmacy while not asking her favorites to work any extra.  She has a supervisor role in the pharmacy but yet does not even know the job functions of the technicians and is not even trained herself to do these functions.  I will not speak of this persons name but just be aware that if you work in the pharmacy you must get in her "click" to survive life in the pharmacy.

I worked in two departments during the end of my years with Mercy in Oklahoma City.

Management for this department (EVS) lacked in many pertinent areas. My rating/stars are derived from my work w/in this department,  EVS, which I was with the entire time.

When employees scheduled time off in advanced, in this department, many times they did not get a response, were told it was denied in an untimely and unprofessional manner (after returning from vacation, during vacation, or the last working shift before scheduled vacation).

Appreciation is significant for retaining employees in any position. EVS has management that doesn't do that and usually complains, so much so that  I've seen employees intentionally decrease performance and increase short cuts in work. Moreover, being understaffed is not acknowledged in regards to those that work to do more than one employee should and more than what most employees do and are required to do. 

Mercy has a meetings that are required to occur every shift, every day, and within every department so that those that do the work (employees) can express new ideas for efficiency, problems, concerns, and questions and progress accordingly. The EVS manager I was under failed in this regard. This EVS manger initially held the meetings, seemingly to appease his superiors that were ensuring the meetings were carried out. Quickly, he began to have meetings once a week where he asked all employees to speak with him separately even if the concern or question was wide spread and the manager's response influenced everyone.

However, within the Oncology unit of the nursing department I worked in, the required meetings were a miracle. Information was disseminated and new plans were made to improve work. The Oncology manager facilitated each meeting gracefully and achieved the goal of the meetings every time.

Pros:
Christian/Catholic ministry with faith based values. Open expression of faith and prayer encouraged. Decent health, vision and dental benefits.

Cons:
Hourly wages far behind the national average. Overall leaving co-workers overworked, underpaid and burnt-out over a short period of time. Under-qualified management more interesting in throwing team members under the bus when conflict arises, then ethically approaching conflict resolution through honest and transparent communication. 
Due to below average wages, HR holds onto bad apples within management roles, knowing the difficulty of finding other interested candidates. Career advancement within ministry a very slow process, if not hired on at an already competitive wage. Typically Mercy provides a 1-2% bump in salary yearly, meaning wages don't keep up with the national inflation rate and cost of living each year. If one is a tobacco or nicotine user it will cost them $75 per pay period extra, compared to those who don't use tobacco products. This can be a burdensome fee for those making below 23k per year.

Advice to Management:
It is much more effective to be a leader than a boss.
Inspire those on your team to rise higher and go the extra mile because you want to see them succeed, not because you want to cover your tail if tasks are not completed.

Don't ever talk down to those who work on your team, as though they are less successful or knowledgeable.
Remember that some of your team members may only make half as much financially per year as you, but are expected to complete all of the footwork in daily tasks, which naturally becomes physically and emotionally taxing.
Personally show them appreciation in unique ways because you want to, not because corporate says you should from time-to-time.

The workload in comparison to the pay is insulting, at least for the RT department. This hospital pays the least in the stl region, and has you do the most work. Management does not help, especially for night shift when it is common to have *multiple ICUs* assigned to you. There’s been times where I have had 12 ventilated patients, other times I’ve been assigned a step down unit AND the trauma ICU, AND the neuro ICU. With such a high workload, I am ashamed to admit that patient care is compromised.
People are no longer picking up shifts because instead of raising incentive pay, they have dropped the pay and have hired travelers or let students do some of the floor work. For as long as I’ve worked here, which has been over two years, there has not been a cost of living adjustment in pay- the nursing department has had several. After taxes, my hourly wage is under $20/hr. I was excited to work at a level 1 trauma center as a new grad, but after being exposed to all kinds of illnesses, codes, and working conditions the excitement quickly wore off and I now feel pimped out. 
Don’t even get me started on the departments favoritism and cliques. There’s a reason why, if you work here, you will never see certain coworkers work in the step down unit, cvicu, med surg icu,  trauma icu, or floors/pacu even though supposedly we all work these areas on a “rotating basis”. Also good luck on trying to get your PTO approved if you’re not one of the liked coworkers. 
I could go on but I will end with this: strongly consider the other level one trauma centers in the STL area if you want higher pay, less workload and don’t want to relive your high school years with the gossiping.  There is a reason this department has been understaffed for the past few years.

This review isn't to judge Mercy or other departments within Mercy hospital. I worked for Mercy GI Lab Procedure Tech for 6 mos and within those months I was called into the office twelve times. Most of those times I was called into the office was base me not having proper knowledge of my job and because there was a coworker who wanted to harassed me and tell on every little thing I did. She a was friends with the supervisor and the supervisor would asked her to do most of her projects didn't want to do. However, precepting and training isn't the best because I had to be retrained( 3 times), but most of us who worked usually were restrained at least twice. Their process barely prepares you for success and if this one particular coworker doesn't like you she will tell on you mercilessly. I was under the impression I would get 80 hours a pay period. Not true, I would be sent home because of low census so I never received a full paycheck unless I used ETO time. I was told by the supervisor that I'd asked too many questions but then was told I didn't asked enough question. I usually tried to stay to myself just so I could bare my time there. The manager is sweet, however she doesn't really know exactly what's going on to know exactly how to handle things. The turnover rate is extremely high. Upon being hired you're told about doing lates that everyone must stay. However, one coworker manipulate himself by doing it because 1) He schedule time to leave for home is 2pm and 2) The person working until 5pm usually get stuck doing his late because the supervisor will say she doesn't want to pay him overtime. I would say treatment in the GI lab was very unfair, catty, inexprience and it doesn't provide work balance for anyone because the GI lab is run like a 24 hour business.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 37 salaries reported	$37.15 per hour
Licensed practical nurse 19 salaries reported	$29.00 per hour
Medical assistant 1 salary reported	$18.50 per hour
Patient care technician 3 salaries reported	$16.67 per hour
Patient access representative 3 salaries reported	$17.67 per hour

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