registered nurse

patient assistant

personal trainer

medical assistant

physician assistant

St. Lukes University Health Network

-Former employee-
I’m writing this review for anyone considering a role in Sterile Processing at the Warren campus who values transparency, consistency, and professional growth.

Before joining St. Luke’s, I worked in the operating room environment at another hospital system where communication, accountability, and learning from mistakes were emphasized. Based on that experience, my expectations for SPD were reasonable and rooted in patient safety and teamwork.

Unfortunately, my experience at Warren did not align with those standards.

-Work Environment-
The department struggled with chronic understaffing and late scheduling, which regularly led to rushed workflows and increased pressure. Rather than addressing these issues at a systems level, accountability was often placed on individual technicians. This created a climate of anxiety rather than support.

Standards were not applied consistently, and feedback often felt corrective rather than instructional. Over time, this eroded trust and made it difficult to perform confidently in a role that already requires precision and focus.

-Leadership & Communication-
Much of the feedback and evaluation appeared to happen privately and indirectly. Concerns raised about workflow, staffing, and patient safety were acknowledged but rarely resulted in meaningful change. This made advocacy feel risky and discouraged open dialogue.

There was also a noticeable disconnect between SPD and OR leadership, which further contributed to tension and morale issues within the department.

-Compensation & Advancement-
Compensation did not reflect the responsibility or technical demands of the role. Coming in with prior hospital experience, the pay was significantly lower than expected, and wage discussions were difficult to navigate due to internal inequities. Opportunities for growth or advancement were unclear.

-Overall-
Sterile Processing is a critical role that deserves investment, training, and respect. At Warren, the department felt undervalued and over-scrutinized, which ultimately impacted both morale and retention.

I would strongly encourage prospective employees to ask detailed questions about staffing levels, training culture, leadership support, and pay transparency before accepting a position here.

1. Answers all incoming calls to the reading room (goal is to answer within three rings). Promptly takes triages and accurately relays all messages to the appropriate Radiologist or staff member.
2. Updates RIS with current study location.
3. Log into “Outside Film Management” in the RIS to keep track of outside studies and disks received and/or returned.
4. Calls verbal reports as necessary. Accurately documents this transaction on the check-in document and log, if available.
5. Completes clerical functions including filing, copying, and faxing as necessary.
6. Provides assistance in locating lost studies.
7. Burns CD’s or prints film as requested for current patients waiting in the Department of Radiology or Emergency Department, and as requested by physicians.
8. Checks for daily Radiologist assignments, prioritizes, and expedites readings to appropriate Radiologist.
9. Prepares all paperwork for document scanning in Medical Records according to their guidelines.
10. Responsible for returning all outside studies to proper location. Accurate documentation must be recorded for this transaction.
11. Works in conjunction with the PACS support team in order to have the majority of studies read in less than 24 hours.
12. Prepares all “nighthawk” preliminary reads as first assignment of the day. Assists Radiologist in handling discrepancy reports.
13. Assists with cleaning and maintenance of Doctors’ work area and computer equipment.
14. Can quickly and accurately retrieve images from the PACS system as requested. Keeps up-to-date with software changes as they occur.
15. Responsible for the success of the department to achieve established Press Ganey goals.
16. Maintains confidentiality of all materials handled within the Network/Entity as well as the proper release of patient information.
17. Complies with Network and departmental policies regarding issues of employee, patient, and environmental safety and follows appropriate reporting requirements.
18. Demonstrates/models the Network’s Service Excellence Standards of Performance in interactions with all customers (internal and external).
19. Demonstrates Performance Improvement in the following areas as appropriate: Clinical Care/Outcomes, Customer/Service Improvement, Operational System/ Process, and Safety.
20. Demonstrates financial responsibility and accountability through the effective and efficient use of resources in daily procedures, processes and practices.
21. Complies with Network and departmental policies regarding attendance and dress code.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The patients,  everyone under the management level

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management,  the ability to have any time to check email. When working in a highly time limited,  understaffed micro managing unit. Knowing they say you're family but refuse to really have your back. They don't want to know what's wrong,  make it work. In the end they'll use everything against you even if employed over 20 years,  anything to attendance to delays in getting time for education or certification. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
There's this Promise you sign, which basically is holding your loyalty to the hospital network,  when signed, if you get a ticket,  arrested (even in error &  have legal documentation) they'll terminate you and use it against you, even if they say they won't. 
It's not for profit,  but time & money are the driving force. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Constantly on the move,  little breaks,  no help,  no time to decompress, no management support,  not enough equipment or supplies.  Its like going to battle daily.  Employees are paranoid of getting in any trouble or bringing up an issue with OR management.

The benefits of the job is it is a fast-paced environment, patients are great, and they offer health benefits.
The cons is that management is horrible. Our supervisor was rather unpleasant and vindictive. Many complaints made to HR. When you do end of year reviews, they are not anonymous adding to extra tension. Things take forever to be done or completed because there is not enough management. 
Due to a growing network and not restructuring their network, it is leading to burnout and entry level, an inability to relate to employees, managers that don’t understand the positions or why employees are stressed/overworked, etc. Those that have management seem to be people that joined the company at the beginning. A lot of management has no prior experience, they lead with emotion/fear mongering and not logic, and make assumptions with no conversation to understand other perspectives. Poor retention rate and no exit interviews or cares from others. Don’t fall for their “we are family” slogan. A dysfunctional family where dynamics are never addressed. 

I worked for St.Lukes for years. Headed some large projects within IT. To summarize my time here is difficult to do because so many things happened. Lets get to the way St. Luke’s IT is now. Within the last year they hired a Chief Technology Officer. The IT Directors didn’t like him and didn’t like him exposing their lies so they ganged up on him and forced him out. Then they systematically black listed any other employees that worked with him. Do not expect to make a good salary they are consistently 30-40% lower than their local competitors. But will lie to you and tell you otherwise. If you ask for a raise or stand out the managers will quickly squash you.  The CIO told the entire IT department in a meeting when pushed about salary to “go to Lehigh Valley then” from what I hear about 30 people in the past 2 months have taken his advice. Nepotism runs rampant. If you want a perfect example, the CIO is married to one of his senior directors. Overall if you are a true IT Professional look elsewhere. Geek squad is more professional than St. Luke’s.

one department in particular has not had a single person stay there longer for a year and there’s a big reason. the manager!! my concerns were ignored and they made me feel uncomfortable. i can go on and on but i do not want to get into any trouble even if it’s “anonymous”
st luke’s just needs to know, employees quit because of bad managers. and i think that’s a big problem here. as my title says, i’m sure there are some great departments. unfortunately, i’ve had a terrible experience just because of my manager and i am pretty upset about it as I would have liked to stay within the network and I did try to transfer (my manager ignored my request) but I had to leave completely because it was too much for my mental health. thankfully i’ve found a position at another hospital locally that seems very accommodating so far with my disabilities.  if no one has stayed there for longer than a year, they need to look into it and do something about it … 

I have never been treated so poorly as a seasoned professional in my entire life, by the Human Resources team at this hospital network. I get it that there is a surplus of nurses, and they can pick and choose 200 applications for every job, and have a reputation for firing every nurse they hire in less than 6 months, but that is no excuse to humiliate a job seeker. Ageism in the workplace could not be more obvious or destructive than it is within this hospital system. Instead of appreciating that a person's  work history in the healthcare industry is a product of the industry itself (layoffs, cutting staff hours to bolster profit, cramming 3 jobs into 1, per diems misused as full time employees with no benefits, axing people at the high end of the pay to bring in cheap labor, nepotism) I was treated like a criminal for having 2 pages of work history on my resume. To any seasoned nurse who makes the mistake of accepting an interview here, my suggestion is to counteract the interview abuse by walking right out the door. What a scam.

HR at Bethlehem campus retaliates against and blacklists prospective employees. I was offered a job and then (presumably) because I took about 2-3 weeks to track down the current number of an old manager that I was apparently deemed ineligible for employment. They did not call my references but stated it was a "discrepancy with references". I have never felt so appalled and perplexed in my entire life. To be accused of lying, essentially, and delivered this information in such an inhumane and disrespectful manner is incredibly disconcerting. Next time HR decides to completely humiliate and slander a genuine individual, maybe they should thoroughly screen prospective employees and reach out for any type of clarification before hastily defaming an individual. I was thoroughly looking forward to working with this company but I am left completely dumbfounded by this allegation...and I am glad that I, evidently, dodged a bullet.

I enjoy working within the SL network, but the floor I work on is filled with drama and is like High School. People are friendly to your face but will talk poorly about you otherwise. The patients on the floor are also VERY pampered. If the nurse is to use their clinical judgment and the patient does not agree, guess who is in the wrong? There's poor staffing on the floor to a dangerous extent where the nurses are left with more patients to care for and/or 1 PCA for an entire floor, so the nurses have to do more anyways. Floor manager has NO personal boundaries with 'certain' favorites on the floor, which are the ones who cause most of the drama and issues, so nothing is done on that part, except anyone else left trying to defend themselves. Turn over is high because people get burnt out and/or just cannot work in the toxic environment anymore. SL itself is a good hospital that cares about their employees overall... but certain floors are not ideal to work on.

This company severely lacks work-life balance and operates under a culture of favoritism. Management often expects employees to be available beyond working hours, with little regard for personal time or boundaries. Advancement and recognition are not based on merit but on personal connections, making it nearly impossible for hardworking individuals to grow unless they’re part of the “inner circle.” The environment is cliquey, with a small-town mindset despite management believing they’re operating at a national standard—which they are far from. There’s a clear disconnect between leadership’s perception of the company and the reality of its outdated practices and limited reach. Innovation and new ideas are often dismissed unless they come from favored staff. Overall, it’s a toxic environment where favoritism outweighs talent, and burnout is normalized. If you’re looking for a professional setting with true growth opportunities and respect for personal time, look elsewhere.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 27 salaries reported	$43.20 per hour
Patient assistant 3 salaries reported	$17.57 per hour
Personal trainer 3 salaries reported	$56,727 per year
Medical assistant 3 salaries reported	$16.92 per hour
Physician assistant 3 salaries reported	$117,600 per year

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