registered nurse

nursing assistant

registered nurse - medical / surgical

respiratory therapist

physical therapist

Silver Cross Hospital

Overview:
Silver Cross has 6 floors and each floor has 2 wings/units and each wing has 18-20 rooms.

If you're looking for a job with consistency, this is not the position for you. TYPICALLY a medical Social Worker would have 2.5-3 wings, on days where staff was short you could have up to 4-5 wings, and on the REALLY short days 6 wings. What was always told to the social worker was: ideally you'll only have 2 floors, so 4 units/wings total. So that's anywhere from roughly 44-120 rooms/patients. Not every single room needs something, but at least a quarter to half of them will. 

Day-to-Day Responsibilities:
Social workers were mostly responsible for sending referrals for Skilled Nursing Facilities, referrals for Nursing Homes, Palliative Care, Hospice Care, setting up outpatient or at home dialysis, arranging transportation via ambulance/med car, Assistive Devices referrals, and any need to report to DCFS/APS, arrange guardianship, complete Health Care Power Of Attorneys, etc.
Nurse Case Managers were responsible for attending morning huddle after reviewing each patient's chart on their wing/unit, setting up IV antibiotics, Home Health referrals and set up, putting orders in for the IV antibiotics and assistive devices (I know there are some additional responsibilities they have, but just to give an idea). Continuity of Cares were completed, brief information gathering background assessments, which were also a responsibility shared between the Nurse Case Manager and Social Worker. If the patient needed something the Social Worker was responsible for they would do the assessment and vice versa for the Nurse Case Managers.  

The ideal goal is that Nurse Case Managers have JUST their wing/unit, however on days staff is short, Nurse Case Managers may have 2-2.5 units/wings. So Social Workers would have ONE Nurse Case Manager per unit/wing; this reporting to anywhere from 2-6 different people in a day, pending staffing. 
If a Nurse Case Manager calls off, the Social Worker would need to step in for them, go to huddle in the morning and do all the Nurse Case Manager responsibilities as well. However, when brought up to management about how having Social Workers cover for Nurse Case Managers is working outside their scope and outside of their license, management would state this is not the case.

As a part of your Full-time position you are also required to work every 7th-8th weekend on rotation with the rest of the department. Where there will be a total of 4 people, so 2 Case Managers and 2Social Workers for the entire hospital. If there is a shortage of 1-2 people due to call offs on the weekend, you and the other individual are  responsible for over half the hospital. Management doesn't come in on weekends to help, ever. 
You are compensated 2 days the following week of the weekend you worked

Aspects of you raise/review:
There are 5 compnets to being sure you get your raise:
- Case Managers and Social Workers are also responsible for completing a "project" they need to present to the whole department of Conintuum Care; which were all the Nurse Case Managers and Social Workers, in addition to the manager and director of the department. 
- Whether you pick up an extra weekend in addition to to what you've already worked
- Whether you train someone, however, management picks who trains new individuals
- AND whether the SHARED goal of the whole department for IMMs (Important Message from Medicare: aka patient's Medicare rights) is met. Unfortunately this is never met due to the caseload each social worker and nurse care manager has, along with patient's switching from Observation to Inpatient and vice versa. 
- AND the hospital's overall Length of Stay (LOS) 

Management:
The Manager and Director in the department since mid to late 2022 are more bosses than leaders due to the lack of trust they put in their staff and vice versa. 
I had vocalized concerns about another staff member that shared the same office as I, and I wasn’t the first to make these complaints, to the manager of the department. I had knowledge that the manager of the department and this individual, that I had concerns about, have a relationship of being friends due to the manager being promoted from that same office. As a manager, it is their responsibility to separate their outside friendship from their professional one. I found out later, through another coworker, that nothing was done about my concerns. The manager didn’t even address any of that individual’s behavior with them.

Management often questions their staff when the answer they are looking for are documented in the charts. The director and manager have been micromanaging since they have started their positions.
For example, Cerner (EMR) has a couple of ways in which you can document information. Management is having the department document their assessments by going through a specific button/route in Cerner, when there is no difference when comes to documenting through one route or the other. 
Another example, the department did a suggestion box anonymously, then had one member of the department read aloud the suggestions. Almost every suggestion that came back notes how the department was being micromanaged by management. Management then stated how the suggestion box wasn’t a good idea and asked for other suggestions.

Management cannot take accountability or responsibility for how they are choosing to manage their department. Micromanagement stems from lack of trust in the belief that no one is capable to do their job, from a level of insecurity, and lack of control. Micromanagement has caused this department to become a toxic work environment to be in, where you feel undervalued and underappreciated for what you do, as the only thing they will do for you is provide you a coffee card.

A leader makes people feel safe. A boss makes you feel anxious.

When the Director had started, they had noted that they would not look at patients as a number/bed and would value their care more. Unfortunately, the director let every patient turned into a number and every patient turned into a bed. 

Workplace Culture:
Every department has its faults and it really depends on who you’re paired with, whether or not there will be a good working relationship. Though everyone is very overworked and overwhelmed with the amount that is on their caseload, staff in this department is always willing to give you direction, reach out, help you with whatever it is you’re struggling with. That being said, I’ve come to find lifelong friends from this job, so there is potential to have a supportive work environment, even if it’s just in your office.

Hardest Part of the Job:
Being micromanaged and not feeling supported. 

Most Enjoyable Part of the Job:
The people you work with.

I thought this would have been a wonderful place to work until I realized how fake everybody is. The administrative director and those that encourage her are some of the most cruel and evil people I have ever met in my life. Co-workers acted very nice to your face but would secretly go behind your back and "RL Solution" fellow healthcare workers, in order to make themselves look better. For those of you that don't know, "RL solutions" is an electronic method that was designed for employees to confidentially report safety concerns to upper management; however, it actually is a way for employees to make up lies about their co-workers or spy on them and report to administration everything that another person does wrong (even if it was an accident). I personally believe that people should confront others if they have an issue or teach them how to correctly do something if one does not know how, instead of being a coward and reporting people behind there back. Most employees at this facility are narcissistic, judgmental, and selfish. Sadly, this is reflected in the terrible patient care that is provided to the patients that are too stupid to realize it. In reality, Silver Cross offers the lowest pay compared to other hospitals and they can do this because they only hire nurses that are new graduates with no experience and only have their associate degree. These so-called nurses use the patients that are admitted at this hospital to practice on, in order to get a job at a real hospital. If the patients only knew that at night, an entire unit is usually staffed with nurses that only have six months of nursing experience, even though they act like they are smarter than a doctor.

Working as a Telecommunications Operator on the grave shift hours was pretty tough at times. I was alone in a little office of the basement for eight hours. There were not a lot of calls, and it would make you sleepy most of the time. But I loved this job because I did like our work environment. It was positive and calm. I had good feelings working at that hospital. I understood what I was doing, and I loved what I was doing. Anytime anyone needed assistance whether your a patient or an employee; someone was there to help you. My managers were a huge part of the team. They constantly stayed on task of what they needed to get done. They also always visited us a many times a day to make sure everyone was okay, and they would just come and talk with us. I feel we all had a good relationship with management. The hardest part of my job was when i first started working there. I felt it was so confusing and so stressful. All I could hear was tons and tons of phones ringing and people talking. But once I sat down and experienced the rush myself, I got into the groove of things and got into my work flow. My most favorite part of the job was when a patient would call the hospital and let us know they were on their way to have a baby! Every time I took a phone call like that I would be so excited! I would congratulate them, and I felt so happy for those people.

I Love Silver Cross Hospital, it is truly a family environment. It is filled with kind and caring people and capable managers.There are opportunities for advancement but unfortunately they are on the lower side of the compensation and benefit scale.
The staff that I manage are the most flexible and understanding staff that I have EVER worked with and it is a priveledge to stand with them on a daily basis. I have learned patience and trust. The building and moving into a new hospital has allowed me to sharpen my organizational and project management skills. This was possibly the most difficult task that I have ever had to complete. Covering two Surgical areas simultaneously, making certain that each hospital had adequate supplies for scheduled and emergent cases was the most challenging aspect that I have ever faced. However, there was great joy for me and my staff in knowing that we had performed well in the face of adverse conditions.
While there are many reasons for me to remain here, I desire greater compensation and an increased level of responsibility.

First of all, if you have a heart beat and pass a drug test you're hired. You'll stay hired no matter the lack of work you do. The only reason you could get fired is if you're attendance is bad. All the staff does is gossip. There are men/women who have worked there for 10+ years and have nothing better to do than to speak poorly about one another behind their backs. Management expects too much out of the third shifters for sure, although I have personally witnessed how many 3rd shift staff have abused their lunches and breaks since there is no management to keep a close eye so there's that. Second shift moves through rooms so quickly they miss a lot of details like dusting up high or checking under the bed for debris from the patient before hand although 2nd shift is a lot more social/you can work in pairs which make the work itself go by quicker. Biggest issue is when you disagree with management they retaliate by scheduling you a lot of weekends or by sending you mostly STAT rooms (rooms that need to be done immediately), basically delaying your lunch/break until very very late (also getting you in trouble).

Leadership does not care if you have the support or resources you need to get the job done. Their expectations would be realistic if you were properly staffed but they refuse to admit staffing is an issue. Even worse, if you do well, they take the credit but they blame you if you fail. New leadership is pushing their own agendas over what should be priorities during COVID. They do not listen to you then act surprised when a problem arises. Staffing is ridiculous. The disconnect between leadership and staff is the worst it’s ever been. Morale would be higher if leadership got out of their offices and actually did something.
Policies are outdated. Pay is still low compared to local competitors. They still don’t offer any paid parental leave. News flash: PTO and short term disability are not paid parental leave.
Bottom line: they don’t care if they burn you out. They’d rather burn you out than staff your department appropriately.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Nothing good about the company I liked the patients That made the job not management very unprofessional 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The supervisors put me down and much favoritism they had the odasity to pick the workers they liked and put down the  others made me very stressed out 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very discriminative and much favoritism also made me feel bewildered and I was good at my job but felt  there were to  cliques 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I go to the house supervisor , get my assignment ( what floor I would be on and if the patient was safety or suicidal I would log the patients actions , watch tv with them keep them company  also chart the. Behavior during my shift so I can pass it to the next sitter that will come on after my shift

Silver cross as a whole is a great place.  It had CE credits and you can get all of your in one shot.  The benefits weren't terrible and orientation was pretty decent. They are big on education and patient care but my unit was not great.  The management hardly was on the unit,  they had lots of cliques, bullying other nurses,  team work was lacking,  and when the unit was struggling,  management did nothing but made the nurses take on more then what they should to keep the patients safe.  I understand a shortage is everywhere but it's how management handles it that makes a difference.  My unit has a high turn over rate and will continue unless someone steps in. Patients are hard but it makes it tolerable if you feel supported.  That was not the case on my unit.  I hope someone steps in soon so the unit can continue to keep the patients safe.  

•	Skilled phlebotomist with extensive experience in E.R. traumas, pediatric/geriatric draws, and outpatient and inpatient settings. 
•	Highly experienced in performing with speed and accuracy for high-volume and time-sensitive tests, working with Electronic Medical Record MEDITECH.
•	Obtained and verified patient information prior to drawing blood.
•	Checked and stocked laboratory supplies.
•	Labeled and secured all specimens for transport to the testing area.
•	Followed hospital regulations safety protocols and privacy rules at all times.
•	Collected urine and other bodily fluids for required tests.
•	Superb knowledge of the inpatient/outpatient specimen processing analysis and release of information correspondence.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It is great working here diversity friendly professional environment to work 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
At times it can be intense that comes with work load in hospital with people coming in sick or having behavioral issues , it can be overwhelming at times

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It's diverse silvercross accepts everyone it's awesome to work here and welcoming 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I work 12 hr shifts it can be slow at first than it can be really busy it all depends I never know what day is go be like but working with my co workers and everybody being team players and it's team work it makes the day working go by

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 3 salaries reported	$37.67 per hour
Nursing assistant 4 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour
Registered nurse - medical / surgical 4 salaries reported	$45.44 per hour
Respiratory therapist 1 salary reported	$36.00 per hour
Physical therapist 1 salary reported	$50.00 per hour

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