registered nurse

patient care technician

phlebotomist

application analyst

mental health therapist

Sparrow Health System

I loved working in the Administration Office at Sparrow Health System. I was placed in this position "temporarily" as a contract employee to support a new Executive who had been hired six months earlier and who had already fired 1 Exec. Assistant and insulted or aliented several other who were assigned to support him. After I came on the job, this particular Executive took an immediate liking to my confidence, my personality and my advanced skills, and he made me a financial "offer I couldn't refuse."

Unfortunately, about 3 months into employment, this Executive's true personality began to emerge. When he couldn't get his own way, he bullied everyone around him, even direct colleagues and management. He was known to yell and insult people in meetings. He was arrogant and felt, as an Executive, that he should be able to do anything and spend any amount of money, despite the Hospital's fiscal (and other) policies and reporting requirements.

Since he was new, he insisted I monitor his email daily (in addition to his own), and then "train" him in all his duties. I was forced to learn quickly and utilize resources with no assistance; a skill in which I am quite strong.

During the 2 years he worked at Sparrow, he directly fired or was instrumental in the firing or resignations of at least half a dozen people who dared to various reasons. Many caregivers reported him to Human Resources.

Finally, although I had an approved medical leave coming up for spinal surgery, he conspired to have me fired one week before my upcoming leave under the pretense of "absenteeism." He had previously verbally approved the time I had to take off due to pain management issues leading up to the surgery.

I know that it is not professional to speak badly of a previous employer. I never have done this before in my nearly 30 years inthe workforce. In fact, I LOVED working at Sparrow Health System as an organization and would go back there in a minute if they had another executive assistant position available. 

Incidentally, the Executive I supported resigned without notice from Sparrow Health System several months ago.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I enjoyed working with several great Physicians who helped me learn so much more than I ever thought possible. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The office manager had hired multiple incompetent medical assistants. These MA’s had no work ethics, avoided doing as much as possible, gossiped, were rude to patients and treated the Physician’s and myself horribly. The office manager interfered with my ability to provide good Patient care on an ongoing basis. This individual provided no discipline to the MA’s she hired.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
In the last few years of working there the environment became toxic. I could not count on support from the Physicians. It was as though the MA’s ran the office. Sparrow Human Resources did nothing to help the situation. 
I had patients telling me stories of how they were treated by the office staff and asking me why this is allowed. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Patients were scheduled in advance allowing open time slots to see anyone who might call and need to be seen. I worked closely with the patients Physician in providing care. Using not enough time allowed to provide care, teaching, and completing the necessary documentation for each visit. Spend many hours after clinic closing to complete charting.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I cannot speak to the Healthcare side of Sparrow, but I did work in the corporate/business side of Sparrow, and it wasn't that great. A lot of shortcomings in leadership, and a lot of misguided interests. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The "Hurry up and wait" workplace. When someone up top says "do this", everything short of Patient Care is put on hold for whatever that request is. No matter how silly or nonrelevant it is. Thus its common to be put on projects that lead to nowhere because the "backburner" is an all too real place where projects go to die.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Stress and more stress. compartmentalization. Fear of stability. Pressure.  
On the flip side, the people you work with will become more like family as you ban together for emotional support and reassurance that its not all your fault and you are just a normal person trying to make it through the day. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Try to get as much work done, so you feel like you will earn the right tobe employed the following day. Rinse and repeat. In all honesty, Sparrow is the type of place where if you brown-nose, you will do great and go far, and life will be easy. If you work hard and believe in everyone pulling their own weight, then you will have problems and you will burn out quickly.

This company is progressive. It is a part of Mayo Clinic. A typical day begins with report from the nurse going off duty.I would go introduce myself to my patients first and then pull meds .It established some rapport. I was able to assess during this time to get a general idea of the patient's condition. Later in the day, I would do an intentional assessment. My workplace environment (on the unit) was for the most part good. The management was not good. ....... 
( trust in our supervisor)!  The hardest part of my job was "overload". There was no consideration given for high acuity patients. Everyone got equal amount of patients.  
      The most enjoyable part of my job was when I could establish a rapport with my patient and see their success. I saw nurses who just made patients agitated because of their manner. I would have the same patient later and my approach allowed them to release some of their defense. I never had a patient hit me! They would write notes to our manager telling her how nice I was.

I enjoy working with other an teaching new ideas, working to solve concerns that can enhance  patient care, interacting with other for a common goal, I enjoy traveling and learning about  new ideas from other source so to better myself.

My day starts with a brief over view of my assigned patients, I will ether start the Tele monitor or I will go and complete the morning blood sugar checks, after that I start bathes along with toileting. Getting patient up into chairs for breakfast or assisting them with there breakfast. 0900 to 1030 I am sitting at the telemetry  monitor  watching for alarms and doing my morning charting, at 1030 completing my baths, and start on rounding of my patients, 1500 start on stocking, trash, and Linen. 1800 back on the telemetry monitor till 1900, then finish up with last rounds before going home.
I learned how to be Patient. Manage my time so that I am productive, My co-worker are great we work as team. the lifting would be the hardest. seeing a patient get better an moving to rehab it's fulfilling to witness them when they laugh an smile.

I worked here over 15 years and loved it.  It is a teaching hospital, level one trauma center, so many opportunities.  I started out as an RN on the cardiac step down with the hardest interview I've ever had! Fast paced, but doable.  Moved over to burn unit and loved it!  Staff helpful and had high integrity.  Burn unit was closed due to budgets, and so I moved over to Compliance as a Medical Auditor.  It was a very new role for me and I had great support from that team and it was where I learned most of my computer skills. I expanded my team's role to add more value and ended up with a 12% raise one year.  I made more money than ever working on the floor, and every year I had the opportunity to work for merit bonuses based on identified and written stretch goals. Our team was able to save the health system millions of dollars and I learned SO much.  This was the favorite job in my lifetime. Ended up after hours hospice after some changes in the Compliance Department. 
The only reason that I left was to be closer to my family after my own bout of cancer.

*A typical day at Sparrow as a PCT involves caring for 6-15 clients per 12 hr shift.

*I have learned how to prioritize and organize client care according to highest need along with completing other essential duties such as providing ADL's, vital signs, blood glucose monitoring and training of associates, ambulation and transferring of patients, back safety  and training of associates, reporting back to registered nurse any abnormal objective data. 

*Our management teams are friendly, cooperative, and structured.

*Co-workers are helpful, independent, and resourceful. The culture is friendly and diverse.

*The hardest part of my job is managing the diverse needs of 6-15 clients per shift as well as managing the delegations of the registered nurses caring for those clients. 

*The most enjoyable part of my job is having the knowledge to care for the needs of the clients with confidence in a comforting manner, this also involves caring for the registered nurses and other associates in the working environment.

Started working for the health system in 2011 as a medical assistant. Loved my job, was getting raises twice a year, along with a raise after 90 days of starting. That ended after year 1. Then became a raise once a year. Used to have pto bank, sick time bank, etc. That also got taken away. To only one time off bank. Also would get bonus every year from BCN/bcbs for work we did. The hospital took that and said they actually needed that money. Our reward was nasty pizza from hungry howies. Resign due to Covid and then only willing to give me 30 days off and cut benefits off during that time.  Pay isn’t the best for what they expect medical assistants to do.... work like a nurse without the pay. Also the clinics that are outside of the hospital are treated like “ step children “ .... I was told this at a meeting I went to when I let them know we were not getting the information that the hospital was given. Loved being a medical assistant, loved my actual job, but the company is greedy and does not compensate the employees they way they should.

Leadership chases economic goals and supports quality initiatives only to the extent that it makes the hospital look more attractive to outsiders.  Employees are treated as replaceable and increasingly departments are as well.  Leadership addresses employees with Sparrow Speak rather than providing realistic or honest feedback even when jobs are at stake.  Middle-management is over-taxed but ultimately undermined by disconnection from the top.  HR would prefer that leadership back-break unions rather than address employee concerns and are consistently on the side of admin even when evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the employee and her union rep.  Progressive thinking is not embraced and critical input is taken as offensive rather than objective.  The size of the system and the strategic acquisition of competitors will seemingly keep the hospital open in perpetuity but this makes the organization comparable to a tumor instead of a pillar to the community.

A typical day for me consisted of answering phones, checking in and scheduling a series of appointments for quality patient care. 

I have learned that everyone has a story and compassion is very crucial to make sure that every patient feels that they are validated to receive the best care  possible and that they are as important.

Management is as best as possible. Often leaving the office staff to work on their own knowing that they are competent to work unsupervised. 

I work with some of the most talented therapist and office staff that I believe bring excellent patient care.

The hardest part of my job is receiving vague direction. I review manuals for information that is not directly supplied to me.

The most enjoyable part of my job is meeting a wide variety of people and working with very special people. 
   
Working for Sparrow for 35 years has been quite an adventure in that I have seen many changes regarding excellent patient care and the growth of multiple facilities.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 7 salaries reported	$39.40 per hour
Patient care technician 3 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Phlebotomist 4 salaries reported	$16.43 per hour
Application analyst 9 salaries reported	$77,822 per year
Mental health therapist 7 salaries reported	$29.57 per hour

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