registered nurse

social worker

physician

technician

patient care technician

Parkland Health & Hospital System

I was so excited to serve the low income and under served when I first came on board. Sadly, what I expected and what I got were two very different experiences and environments. 

The original DON "retired" just over a year into my tenure. Seriously, what person wouldn't want a retirement party after 15 years plus? Highly suspicious and many knew better. Since then, we've had at least 2 more DON's. 

I have had 6 managers in 6 years. Mgmt requests staff to report issues to them in order to get change but efforts are futile, even when it comes to serious patient safety. Favoritism is ever so present. Mgmt fails to recognize those who have impeccable work ethics while rewarding those who are obviously extremely lazy, refuses to be a team player, tattletales and those with zero integrity. It's truly astounding. 

Morale is consistently low among the majority of those on the front lines and only continues to decline due to the multiple issues that continue to be ignored. 

Staffing issues are an ongoing problem that never seems to get resolved. This creates so much unneeded added stress to the already extremely stressful job. Staff are consistently over stretched on an everyday basis and wear many different hats every single shift. Newly hired nurses are required to precept for 8 weeks and it's completely unnecessary. Four weeks should be the maximum, especially when staffing shortages are at an all time high. Orientation is typically 2 weeks in most all other facilities. Eight weeks is plain ridiculous.

Supplies are an ongoing problem. Every month you will be short no less than 1-3 items that you need but are unavailable. One month it could be insulin syringes, medication cups or temp probe covers and the next month you'll find yourself scrounging from floor to floor trying find lancets, lab bags or gloves. When you inquire about the issue through mgmt, it's always the same excuse, "We have a budget". Supplies should never be a problem as staff need these supplies to do their job. Spending 20 minutes looking for supplies is completely unacceptable and sets you back in your duties, especially while being expected to wear 3 hats on an everyday basis. 

Team playing is completely nonexistent. It's always, "That's not my job." I believe that most of this stems from the constant staffing shortages and the added stress that it brings with it. The majority of nurses are in burnout mode at this point and are stretched so thin that they tend to just want to handle what would normally be assigned to them if shortages weren't an issue. 

Medical assistants are not very useful as they have decided amongst themselves that their only task is to take vital signs and nothing more. If you even attempt to ask them to do anything outside of taking vital signs you get immediate push back and they give you the "I don't know" response and "play dumb" reaction or blatantly refuse to take direction from a nurse. 

Providers are held to a completely different standard than the rest of the staff. There are multiple awesome providers that I have formed great rapport and lifelong friendships with; however, there are also several providers that continually get their hand slapped, if even that, for how they treat and talk to staff. Several providers are extremely rude, unprofessional, and are the first one to email your mgr if you give them any push back or attempt to defend yourself. Two of them go as far as trying to make you appear lazy, incompetent and treat you like a peasant with their "God" like egos. It is insane what they get away with even after dozens of complaints on a same provider from multiple nurses over multiple years. Reporting a complaint about certain providers will only lead to retaliation on their part. You are never right, ever and you are treated far worse than when you were for the complaint you originally reported. It becomes a "pick your poison" atmosphere at best.

I absolutely could go on and on about many other issues but I believe you get the points I have shared. 

As for the job itself, you will need to be prepared to really put those psychology classes you took years ago, to work. Correctional Nursing is a lot of Psych Nursing. There are extreme behavior issues in this type of patient population. Prepare yourself and be ever so vigilant about your tasks you complete with the inmates. Not all, but many inmates will be the first to write a grievance on you even after having a good rapport with them for months or more. Essentially, they will turn on you quickly if you even refuse to give them crackers during med pass even when it's not required or a policy. 

With that said, there are a ton of great patients that I've come to work with who are exceptionally patient, respectful and grateful of the staff for what we do for them every day. 

Every day is not a bad day in the jail. We do have good, decent days here and there. If you are not tough skinned, then this is not the nursing specialty for you. Period. 

With all of that said, there needs to be a complete overhaul in every dynamic of the jail before morale can even begin to recover from the many years of feeling underappreciated, underpaid, overworked and undermined. 

Parkland is a unique place to work. It has a big heart and genuinely cares about the people they serve.
The Labor and Delivery Dept. is exceptional. If you, a family member or a friend is about to deliver a baby, Parkland is the place to have him/her. Support staff, Environmental Services, Linen and much of the Facilities Division are exceptional.
The benefits are good and compensation is acceptable. Management/leadership are the biggest weakness. Much of the leaders have expectations of their direct reports, but don't hold themselves accountable to the same standards, the very standards they mandate be implemented. Unfortunately, the "ground ponders" or "worker bees" follow leaderships actions.

The most difficult part of the job is its politics. Like most government entities, Parkland receives huge sums of money from the Dallas County taxpayers. Thus, stewardship is key to organizational longevity, especially one that serves the “underserved” and the indigent population. Often leadership focused on capital projects that didn't generate revenue; instead, they focused on non-revenue generating projects, like bigger executive offices. Many of the projects were wants not essential needs that served the population they are intended to serve.

I worked there for nearly 3 years. Each year the organization had over tens of millions in budget shortfalls. All projects exceeding 50,000.00 required board approval. Unfortunately, shortfalls like this resulted in reduction in force (RIF), with meager severance packages to those who were RIF'd. Meanwhile, senior leadership kept their jobs; many times, exorbitant bonuses were delved out for poor fiscal management.

Stewardship is part of Parkland’s guiding principles-values in which all employees hold themselves accountable. Yet, the very individuals responsible for fiscal responsibility were the same individuals responsible for huge deficits—fiscal irresponsibility. The individuals that need coaching for improvement are those in positions of authority. As usual, the typical response in most government entities is to raise taxes for needless, misguided and reckless spending habits by a few. These few are always at the top of the organization, never on the front-line. When you give money without earning it, and those handling it don’t hold themselves to the same standards that they expect from their direct reports, you get huge debt/deficits. The taxpayers, patients and employees deserve better stewardship from the Parkland Executives and the Board. Don’t reward foolish and selfish behavior.

Been a Physician Assistant (PA) a long time and have worked a long time at Parkland Health & Hospital System (PHHS).   The work is very rewarding.  You are providing care to a population (uninsured, economically distressed, immigrants) that would never get that level of care anywhere else in North Texas; it is a true safety net for the residents of Dallas County. That feeling is very rewarding and is the reason why I have continued to work at PHHS for many years among the many downsides to the job.  The pension at the end of it also is an incentive to stay.
The cons:  
surgeons-who will operate electively without regard to the toll it has on the patient and the system.  Not all patients should have elective surgery.  There are cases where the patient has it pretty bad which is unfortunate, but an elective operation is not always the answer and can make the problem worse especially with co-morbidities that place the patient at higher risk with elective surgeries.  The decision to perform elective surgeries is driven by the Relative Value Unit (RVUs).  For those who are familiar with RVUs then you'll understand that drive by surgical staff to want to perform more.
No room for advancement as a PA.  As a PA at PHHS, only advancement is that of a lead or manager or maybe a director position (which are very, very few).  Otherwise no other room for developmental growth or to branch out.  Many exceptional opportunities for a RN, so if you're a RN definitely apply-many areas to advance to with that RN degree especially if you go to a MSN.  But those areas are off limits to PA who don't possess a RN degree. 
Management:  typically as with everywhere else.  They're outside the frontline and have no idea what's going on (this can apply to Attending Surgeons who have resident physicians running the show).


If you're looking for hours, you'll definitely find it here. From call-outs to being severely understaffed, there is a constant need of more people to pick up shifts. Favoritism runs rampant depending on which part of the lab you're in and policy is upheld in a case-by-case manner (depending on who the supervisor is and how close you catch them to their lunch/end of shift).
Finger pointing, gossip, he said/she said, "that's not my responsibility", and lazy work ethic run rampant. Seriously, the only upside is that benefits are pretty secure (although UT Southwest, literally right across the street, offers their Healthcare for FREE to a majority of their employees). Pay can be great, if you're willing to put your back and mental/emotional wellbeing at stake. Shifts can run an average of 12+ hrs at times if your relief is running late, and scheduling is such a sham that you'll find yourself leaving work with maybe 6 or so hrs to live outside of work before another 12+ hr run.
Work itself is incredibly easy, and that's the sad part, you literally have to NOT want to work to get nothing done, yet day to day that's exactly what happens. Aside from a few choice co-workers and shift leads, this place oozes a sense of entitlement folded in with laziness galore. This is of course for just my portion of the lab, Logistics. The others portions of the lab around you have very friendly people that would LOVE to talk and get work done. Their positions are highly sought after, but good luck moving up the ladder; aside from bumping up to a shift lead (or as they call a "purple coat) you have to either brown nose excessively or give up all sense of home/life balance for your "good worker" badge among the higher ups.
Remember: if you work here, tough it out but do not settle. Make this a stepping stone to something better.

That was the worse move I've ever done in my life. I wished I would of stayed working at PMH and I'd still have a job today.
Very racists place to work, low pay, over worked the older three employee's are lazy,complacent, and pretty much do whatever they want to do while you have to bust your rear everyday they sit talk,surf the internet practically get paid to do nothing. The wrong people get to stay and the good ones are sent packing.
If they like you then you can stay until you retire if no then your out. They give the best hours to folks who don't need to leave early and the ones who do need to leave early have to work all the sorry hours.
I was let go due to my age,race, and my pay rate.  I believe this very strongly. 
Absoluetly no team work, I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't, very jealous co-workers and back stabbers as well always finding ways to get you fired.
Had I known then what I know now about GHC that I was the 4th one to get hired to work there I would of walked away right from the start.
They set you up to fail right from the get go. So be warned. 
I wished I would of investigated this job more before I had transferred there but to all the one's who become interested after me.
Consider yourself warned. Don't walk away from GHC Run away as fast as you can. It won't get better I thought it would that is why I stayed but it never got better.
I never had my team's support. I don't want anyone else to go thru what I went thru working at GHC. Stressful for no reason,Co-workers are disrespectful to each other so are the floats. Not a place to go work for sure. Want experience go work at Parkland instead. Not GHC or other Parkland clinics the standards the hospital has are not followed across the board at the clinics because each clinic is run according to their individual managers.

Pros 

New hospital and equipment, teaching facility; so multiple opportunities to learn new techniques and obtain various certifications. Retirement program and health benefits begin immediately upon employment. The Retirement program is the best in the DFW area. For most RN/PCA positions you work 12 hrs, scheduling is based on unit, patient load depends on unit med/surg 1:6, ICU 1:2, ER 1:4 or more depends on staffing. Fast pace environment regardless of what unit you work in. 

Cons 

Management is a big issue here. Not sure why one unit, needs more than 4 different managers, excluding the CNO and ANO. I have worked at large hospitals before, and I am accustomed to having just a Chief Nursing Officer, Associate Nursing Officer, then a Unit Manager, and Unit Supervisor. Not sure about workplace culture since there is so much management, never know who to go to when needing to address an issue.

 Retention is also a big issue, nurses come and go; seems like a revolving door. Many of the people that I have met, have been in there units one to two years. There are those who you will meet who have been at the hospital for 10 or more years but these people tend to be in non-floor positions. 

If you think the grass is greener on the other side and are thinking about leaving your job for this hospital, I would think twice or choose your new unit wisely. Some units are more organized and have better management teams than others. I would get insight into the unit you are applying to before submitting that application. 

I also would not recommend signing a contract at this hospital. Whether you are a seasoned nurse or a new grad, I just wouldn't do it. 

Despite all of this, I do recommend working here as a non-contract employee, you will learn so much and be exposed to a multitude of different clinical scenarios.

after I got to work, reviewed labs then patients started coming in.  I loved my patients and taking care of them but they scheduled too many patients and very frequently double and triple booked. You were judged on how long it took you to see a patient and then your evaluation reflected on that and also how the rest of the staff did. If the patients didn't mail their evaluation's back in, everyone's  evaluations were bad also. You were expected to keep up with your labs and do mandatory education on line but wasn't given time to do that. Maybe an hour a month.  Were told to do it "in between patient's".  There was no time in between patients. We were always told what we were doing wrong but rarely told the good things. The staff were back stabbing and a lot of gossiping going on. Staff were encouraged to tattle on the rest of the staff and were written up for petty things. Staff lied to management about others and then they were written up for it for it because management believed them. Management targets you if she wants you out of the clinic and goes to the staff and asks them to write you up for things you didn't say or did.  Things were taken out of context and exaggerated. You weren't supported by managers or the higher ups.  Parkland does NOT care about their employees.  The patient care is about quantity not quality. You weren't given the proper time to see the patients.  You can not do an exam, diagnose, test and treat in 15 minutes.  MA's were not allowed to translate so you had to use the language line which took up a lot of time.  Most of the patients didn't speak English. The communication was horrible between management and the staff. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

Parkland does overall try to do more for the patients than other hospitals.  They are a county hospital and they get a high acuity level of patients from multiple backgrounds.  Cultural awareness is important here from the patients to the staff you work with.  It is a teaching hospital so you work with med students and teams of doctors.  Great place to gain nursing experience, however, the stress level is high and burnout here is fast.  There is a disconnect between management and staff, especially working night shifts, there is almost zero support.  They do not have a culture to accept nurses who stand up and speak up.  They seem to prefer work bots instead.  The pt to nurse ratio is high depending on the units and usually the patients are very high acuity.  Hard to find time to take a break, take care of self when you are overrun with duties not to mention trying to complete all the education/training that are required.  They do offer continuing education but it is hard to get time off to go to the classes as they are short on nurses and don't seem to utilize float pool staffing at all but rather float their own staff nurses for no increased pay on that float shift.  The benefits are pretty great for healthcare and retirement, etc.  Almost every job is assigned a contract with a specific amount of time expected.  They threaten you with a lawsuit and fines if you want to break contract.  I do not recommend taking one of the contract jobs here.  I do recommend trying a regular position with them and forming your own assessment of the work place.

Typical day at work? Since I only work weekends I have to learn every ones name all over again since the turn around is huge at the department I work at. I've worked there over 7 years now. I work first shift so I'm looking to supplement my income by looking for full time Monday-Thursday,40 hours a week,10 hour days,with every Friday,Saturday, and Sundays off.
I learn something new every time I go in to work that for me is a plus the con's are there is no room for advancement unless you are the manager's best friend or they like you then you can choose your own schedule and get advanced.
Management is bias like I said above if they like you? Only then you will be able to reach the very top and get to go back to college and get reimbursed.
My co-workers are very stressed,over worked and complain all the time, high strung anything can set them off very nasty,rude, and are not team players most are there just for a pay check and nothing more.
Hardest part of job would be to try to get crossed trained is non-existent.
The best part of my job is I get to learn something new every time I go into work the nurses on certain floors are the very best once you work there you will learn who the great nurses are and which nurses you need to stay away from.
I need a job that I can grow with and they are willing to reimburse me to go back to college would be a plus for me. I don't care to identify anyone at this time for fear I could lose my job. I currently work there and will continue to work there once I'm hired by another company full time.

I wish to remain,
Anonymous ;)

During my time working in Sterile Processing, the department offered structured workflows and a strong working relationship between SPD and the operating room, which I found to be one of the biggest positives. The organization and pace of the work environment helped me gain hands-on experience and develop my technical skills.

Scheduling, however, was a challenge for me. The available shifts and weekend requirements were fairly rigid, and in my experience there was limited flexibility once assigned. For someone with school, children, or other ongoing obligations, this may be difficult to manage. That said, individuals with open availability may find the structure works well for them.

The job itself can be physically demanding. Lifting heavy instrument trays and standing for extended periods were the most challenging aspects of the role for me, particularly during longer shifts. On the positive side, I did gain valuable knowledge and exposure to a high-volume environment, which helped strengthen my skills in sterile processing.

Workplace dynamics can vary depending on the team and leadership style, and my experience included moments where communication felt strained. Others may have a different experience depending on their role, shift, or expectations.

Overall, I believe this position can be a good learning opportunity, especially for those looking to gain experience in a fast-paced hospital setting. Whether it’s the right long-term fit will depend on your scheduling needs, physical tolerance, and what you’re looking for in a work environment.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 15 salaries reported	$42.73 per hour
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