registered nurse

patient care technician

mental health technician

registered nurse - emergency room

psychiatric nurse

Parkridge Health System

ParkRidge Medical Center is a typical HCA owned hospital for those that have worked at one. It is corporate owned so that makes sense. A typical day had regular patient volume and ancillary staff available for a city the size of Chattanooga. There are 2 other major hospital systems so we were not overrun. 

At ParkRidge I learned how terrible HCA administration and management can be. Outside of balancing costs I don’t think administration had a single clue what was going on in the hospital. Therefore they left management to do as they saw fit as long as revenue was not being affected. I get that is how corporations generally run but this was at the point of incompetence and laziness on the part of administration. 

The workplace culture was overall decent. Most people that worked there were pleasant and team members. There were a few who were trouble makers and due to administration and therefore management’s lack of involvement they were allowed to do as they please. This really hurts the good employees and they will not end up staying long term. 

The hardest part of the job was the lack of work by administration and management. Literally I have no idea how that place runs except for the good will of the employees. I think a fair comparison for managers (and administration) is how they would do running a Starbucks store or region. Management and administration at ParkRidge Medical Center would somehow bring a profitable store into the red and the region would be bleeding employees. The difference is healthcare workers pick up the slack no matter what based on good will and doing the right thing. 

Difficult moving up shift ladder and rudness from prev 
nurses tolerated and even encouraged towards new staff as management turns their head in the other direction ignoring this behavior. Careless, word of mouth from co-workers is how management formulates their yearly evaluations without being objective or spending time with employees and evaluating for themselves. This culture isn't one of caring and treating patients well but rather rudely and with contempt. Patients are often threatened with repercussions such as police being called,for simple concern for their well-being.  Great job for nurses who went into this field for social drinking and sleeping with co-workers as this is highly prevalent in this specific facility without regard from management. High emphasis placed on How they look in management's eyes rather than having integrity and doing the job well. A lot of backbiting even amongst staff who would be considered close friends in an attempt to remain out of the spot light and in well with previous nurses who have management's warm regard. If one attempts to shed light on or even discuss these matters with nurse managers, they are threatened and overt retaliation occurs. Retaliation to the degree of placing other nurses in unsafe situations or overwhelming them with an unequal amt of patients to care for while making sure that no other nurses offer help. This causes coworkers to be afraid of being caught talking with one, in fear of having to undergo such treatment themselves.

As a float, I was able to see the hospital as a whole. Upper management is not the best. The ‘O’s need to get a grip on reality. The HR Director is a snake in the grass! Managers are a joke. House Supervisors are lazy and are a joke. The only one that knew what was going on, helped out, and cared about the nurses had enough and works in a different department. None of the managers could actually do the job that they manage others to do. (With the exception of Women’s services). None of the managers have accountability for their mistakes and the ancillary departments are blamed for everything. The ICU manager is hateful and disrespectful. She couldn’t provide care for a well patient but was appointed the manager of the ICU. The ER manager is lazy and his assistant and charge nurses are very rude and unapproachable. The Med/Surg managers clock out early on Friday and don’t care about staffing until Monday morning. Working weekends are awful due to lack of ancillary departments not there and poor staffing. The med floor manager is never there and never staffs appropriately. The surgery floor manager acts oblivious to what is going on in her departments and The 2nd shift housekeeping Supervisor is the most ridiculous person and despite the large amount of complaints she is still employed. The Hospital staff is amazing, the ancillary departments are awesome, most of the doctors are great. If all the directors and management had some leadership training or a full overhaul then this would be the best place to work!

I work day shift in a very busy cardiac telemetry ward.  We do cardiac catheterizations, ep studies, ablations, and receive open heart patients often less than 24 hours post surgery.  We manage clinical drips such as cardizem, heparin, dobutrex, dopamine, bumex, and other critical drugs for our patients. Average patient load is 4-5 patients a day at any one time, but often several more over the course of a day when one leaves an another fills their place. 

I work in the best unit in the hospital with many great friends whom I have known for years now.  Along with our base staff of more experienced telemetry nurses we have a number of new grads who we mentor as well.  Our spirit is one of teamwork and cooperation in an ever changing, challenging, and increasingly technical environment. The hardest part of the job is often the pace of the change with many new demands.  The most enjoyable is receiving gratitude notes from our patients who come in often in very critical condition.  I often hear patients tell their families that they would not think of going to another hospital and this really helps. Management is generally very responsive with the sole gripe if any being that salaries at times lag behind other hospitals in the area.  This is however a cyclical variation and not unusual.

I immediately became employed in the adolescent residential treatment program upon completion of my B.A. in Psychology. To be fair, I was inexperienced. However, I was also not trained in the least. The formal training was simply red-tape type instruction regarding blood-borne pathogens and therapeutic restraint. I was given basically no instruction of how to supervise a dozen teenagers with sever mental health diagnoses. The place was understaffed, and I was kept as a PRN (as needed employee) working 40 hours every week with no mention of advancement. I made it about 7 months before I moved on with my life and got a job that respected my time and energy. For the record, they over-medicate the patients. I was not, and am not, a doctor, but when you consistently see patients drooling and nodding off... well you get the idea. My time of employment ended in January 2012, therefore it is possible that many of my concerns are no longer relevant. 
       On the plus side, the management was fair and disciplined. They did believe in what they were doing and honestly, they improved what would have been a worse environment for both employees and patients.

I have worked here for 2 years and I have loved every minute of it until recently. The more hard work you do and the more you bust your behind to help, the more will be piled on you. If you are a hard worker and never call out and you're always on time, you will be taken advantage of in the sense that they work their good ones to the bone while others who aren't so motivated to work while here get away with such behavior no matter how much you bring it to managements attention. It truly is like working while being back in high school all over again. If you aren't "in" with the right clique then you will be talked down to or about and it's made known in subtle yet obvious ways. Most, not all, but most nurses will run you ragged and won't bother to help. Little things such as taking a patient out for discharge to taking them to the bathroom, if you can't do it the patient has to wait. The environment has truly gone way way down hill since I started here 2 years ago.

I work at the child and adolescent campus and i truly do love my job. The kids make everything worth it and I have gotten some really great experience for my career in the mental health field. If you are passionate about this field, you will enjoy it. If you aren’t, you will hate it. The pay is extremely low for the amount of work I do as a MHT and the communication here between the higher ups are terrible! Some of the doctors are entitled and do not seem to care about other staff’s opinions on the kids’ care even though we are the ones that spend the most time with them and know what their behavioral issues are. The doctors don’t even really seem to care much for the kids either, which is sad. Nurses and techs run the show here and everyone I work with is extremely passionate about this work, which makes the job much more fulfilling. There just needs to be some tweaking in the communication between the doctors and the staff that actually know the kids. And there needs to be better communication with the main Parkridge system because techs and nurses are getting stretched thin without much support. 

Always worked understaffed. Oversaw 15 or more patients that required a tremendous amount of attention, when asked by the Director what could be done improve the work conditions; my reply was additional help. Additional help was never provided from management which led to complaints from patients about the services provided by staff members.  The hardest part about this job was the unusually high load of work and the amount of pressure that is relied on of the Patient Care Technicians. I learned that you are not allowed to be out sick even if you have a doctor's excuse if so you will be written up.  I also learned that any complaints from patients you will be written up for a first occurrence. Either of these will result in termination of employment. And I also learned no matter how well you work here it goes unnoticed, however; complaints are always noticed. I strongly would not recommend anyone with values to work for such a company, their are other area hospitals that value the hard work and utilize comments from employees.

Parkridge Valley Hospital is more than happy to allow and in some cases expect, its employees to break their backs in order to fill employment holes that the company causes to itself by refusing to not only pay its employees a living wage, but showing no loyalty to even its managers who were there for decades and made the program what was. They failed to recognize, or at least care, that its employees were the reason for its success and it will fall to the wayside as Erlangers new psych hospital begins to pick up the staff that Parkridge lost in its inability to care about the people that matter the most. By extension, Parkride Valley Hospital does not care about its patients because they believe that their doctors are the sole reason for their success instead of a combination of psychiatry and an amazing staff that implements and enforces expectations while at the same time helping their patients through their various trauma.

A typical work day was caring for patients with Emergencies and developing a care plan with the Doctor to benefit the patient and patient care while maintaining safety and assuring quality care within a certain time frame for each emergency. I learned to manage time, efforts, and rely on fellow co-workers during intense situations. My co-workers were a great source of knowledge and information and were equipped in handling all sorts of trauma's, each specialized in their own unique way. The hardest part was dealing with intense losses patients and patient families experienced and seeing stress on their face. The most enjoyable part was coming to work and being with co-workers that made it a fun place to learn and when you were able to see how you positively affected, helped, saved, a patient's life. Those feelings were treasured by me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 3 salaries reported	$33.92 per hour
Patient care technician 5 salaries reported	$14.83 per hour
Mental health technician 5 salaries reported	$15.40 per hour
Registered nurse - emergency room 2 salaries reported	$37.13 per hour
Psychiatric nurse 3 salaries reported	$38.50 per hour

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