registered nurse

screener

director of risk management

Northwest Texas Healthcare system

A typical day was arriving at work and usually getting on the floor with verbally and physically aggressive patients for 12 hours. Fellow staff were helpful but most nurses tended to stay behind the desk and only see the patients briefly. The pay is not worth the stress of working with aggressive and dangerous patients. Management watches you on the cameras all day or night  and review the videos to find what you did wrong giving you a final written warning. Rarely ever see management except around holidays when they bring food gifts and their faces are unfamiliar. The job was usually stressful the entire shift. The employees you work with were helpful and the best part of the job. Most fellow employees care and watch out for each other but management is lacking that particular people skill, Turnover of staff is constant and you rarely work where you are suppose to be located. The pavilion is dangerous and staff are physically and verbally attacked. You are watched and reported via camera and any type of written warning is a final written warning. It is stressful the pay is not enough for the job you are expected to do. Favoritism is shown towards the nurse and other employees are treated like second class citizens. Hours are long and stressful there is nothing good about this hospital other than the good feeling of working the final day and leaving that place. 

Changes in the directorship of this hospital was very satisfying when I entered their workforce. The CEO knew the work staffs and was very friendly to all. This was a City hospital which was sold to a for profit corporation which tried to keep the balance of shareholders to the needs of the community. One of these was taking on indigent care with the city paying the brunt of the costs per contract. The CEO did well in this balance,then he was sent to another hospital and a new CEO came in. The hospital was beautified throughout over time. Upgrades everywhere. Another CEO and changes started. Contract with the city stipulated that the corporation assumed most of the costs of the city's indigent. Work conditions started being squeezed. Finally in 2012 all LVN's and CNA's were being downsized and staffing dropped. Soon all LVN's were phased out within 2 months and replacement by RN.s only, became the staff. Short supply of RN's in Amarillo area due to competing hospitals in city didn't allow fast hiring. Contract nursing of RN's were used to fill this gap for awhile. So 2012 was my last year with this hospital. I assume that it all worked out for this for profit hospital over the last year or two.
   One thing though, all LVN's  were asked if they wanted to go to RN school and those LVN's were allowed to stay until they received their RN degree within a time frame only. All others unable to head to higher education due to family, money or too old to learn new tricks, so to speak, were the ones gone. So maybe they did do right by the employees.

I worked for Northwest for a very long time and multiple departments.  overall, it’s a great place to work and there’s Opportunities to be found and lots of room for advancement, If you have A good department, Director and manager. Department supervisors are great at advocating for their staff.  Units do not function well together, HR is An absolute nightmare and so unorganized and their processes could use a little work.  Administration Outside of the Departments Is completely absent despite they being the ones who makes all of the decisions. rounding on the units Or overall support would be nice. Department management gets very little recognition and is constantly being overworked and underpaid causing a high turn over Rate Among the department managers and directors. Tenured Staff is not enriched, Are they are not Appreciated or compensated Fairly, And they offer no Benefits or enticement to stay long-term. Brand new staff Particularly nurses Are often Making more money at initial start, Then a tenured nurse has been making for many years As well as they are often given sign on bonuses Bonuses. They make Education a priority until The hospital starts struggling financially, and it’s the first to go. There is a lot of bulling Among staff Especially from charge nurses. And despite complaints being filed  to HR, unit and upper management, it is never addressed or remedied. And the aggressor is
Always rewarded by getting to remain In the same position, Which has caused many people quit due to unsafe environment. 

The typically day began with making rounds with the responsible parties of each project.  What did they feel that they needed to progress, did they have the tools, inventory, managements assistance? I also asked them what did they feel they could different to do the job to meet their project target date. Once that was accomplished we worked together in setting target date goals.  So with this being said, management and staff were able to proceed to achieve the set goal.  All thirteen (13) projects were completed before their target dates.  The staff was anxious to comply because they had part in the target date decision.   The hardest part of the job was leaving a very functional staff and colleagues.  The most enjoyable part of the job was working with a very bright staff. 
 I was also given additional responsibilities such as pharmacy conversation from its inhouse pharmacy company to a competitors pharmacy company, moving the business office to a different location, consultation regarding a free-standing 30-bed rehabilitation hospital and asked to be the liaison for administration in overseeing construction of a 90-bed heart hospital.

This is a great hospital with great nurses and doctors. It strives hard to constantly improve and meet the needs of the various patient. However, there is a constant turnover of staff due to job dissatisfaction and the fact that nurses are paid far below industry standard. (This was supposed to have been addressed and taken care of in July of 2015, but since I left the hospital in June, I cannot attest whether it was not not.)  Training and the internship program for new nurses has been greatly improved. Due to the constant turnover, staffing is a problem and patient load is quite often too high. They are, however trying hard to rectify this problem by hiring nurses regularly, but until they get staff morale up and meet industry standard in pay, it will be hard to keep them. Due to being understaffed, it is very difficult to be able to use your vacation time.

Very poor nurse patient ratios, they are more concerned with making money than keeping things safe, providing needed equipment or getting staffing help. They will run their nurses ragged and they do not put patient care at the top of their priority list. They are more concerned with saving money then their patients. As far as experience goes, this will make a good nurse great, having to work with so little and do so much while dealing with the high patient volume. Not to mention this hospital will expand your bladder exponentially... The nurses are typically mean to the newer staff until they earn their trust and the required education does not focus on the skills that I actually found useful.

Good place to learn but not a place to stay. A great place to gain exemplary skills. Work does get monotonous. Most of the staff is wonderful to work with. You frequently work short staffed and ED management doesn't care nor provide any help or support. Safe Harbor is frequently called during the night. Lots of admittance holds in the ED. You might have 2-3 ICU holds, a M/S hold and ED patients all at the same time while working alone and get disciplined because a lab draw was late. Not an encouraging atmosphere by administration. You only hear about what you did wrong. "Tattle-telling" of hurt feelings is encouraged by the director and no due diligence is ever done. Favoritism by the Director is ridiculous and abusive. No innovative thinking by administration.

Benefits are worth it if you ever have need to use them.

I feel that full time nurses need higher pay increase to keep nurses there! Burn out is real in the emergency department and pay increases could help motivate health professionals to stay. Nurses are definitely over worked, under paid , and left to feel unappreciated most days. The morale is poor and charge nurses play favorites keeping some nurses from moving to different areas in the ER  causing a stunt of growth in skills along with monotony.
Clicks are apparent in the department and those who fit in usually have great days there, while others feel left out. Favorites get coffee brought to them from starbucks, cakes and presents on their birthdays, etc. This does not happen to all employees in the department. 

The ICU is a stressful place to work but the administration makes it unbearable at times. Finding supplies to properly care for your patients is difficult. They no longer carry disposable wipes which is a huge infection risk. Linens and hospital gowns are returned from laundry with EKG leads, coffee stains etc. so I can't imagine feces is cleaned well enough off of washcloths that are reused on patients. They are concerned about productivity and finances far more than they are concerned with safety and patient care. If you can find a pocket of great co-workers it will help you keep your sanity but the turn over is very high. The pay is lower than the other hospital in the area. Nurses are taken advantage of. Ancillary staff is a skeleton crew and you're asked to help with their jobs in addition to nursing duties. Ratios are higher than most other areas in the south. 

Let me spare you all the details because there’s too many and too many examples, and just say don’t bother working here, you can do better! There is so much drama, and toxicity. Management doesn’t care and doesn’t address issues, but have no problem jumping down your throat over simple human mistakes. There’s no way to advance unless you become an RN, or somehow score a management position. Raises are scarce and when they do happen it’s not even worth the amount. You won’t see a difference in your check. The benefits are bad and not worth what they deduct from your checks. — people also have horrible attitudes that make you wonder how the heck they became doctors or nurses.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 1 salary reported	$121,500 per year
Screener 1 salary reported	$25.00 per hour
Director of risk management 1 salary reported	$131,500 per year

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