registered nurse

clinical research coordinator

patient assistant

care associate

clinical research assistant

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

I’m currently on staff in an ICU at Wexner. I’m an experienced ICU nurse in my specialty, and worked in a wildly high-acuity ICU prior to this job. This job is one of the worst I’ve ever had in my life, and I am actively interviewing elsewhere.

Pros:

The union seems pretty powerful, and that results in some great things like how holidays are paid, the overtime incentives, and outrageously padded staffing for RNs.

There are plenty of great supplies and adequate equipment at pretty much all times.

I’ve had consistently great experiences with physicians here. About 50/50 with NPs.

Lots of opportunities for overtime.

Really great visitor screening process and patient relations staff that help with intense family situations.

Quick staff meetings.

Cons:

Low-acuity and mind-numbingly boring. I frequently have a singled med-surg patient waiting for a bed, or two patients with virtually no or zero ICU needs. Few CRRTs. 

Very young and entitled nurses , who have had few jobs, complain constantly about the demands of their position, while not realizing how easy it is compared to other level-1 settings, and how low-acuity this ICU actually is.

Horrific attitudes and interactions: being exclusionary of new staff, no sense of community, disgustingly gossip-ey, nurses yelling at patients/telling patients they’re “being a b***h/a****le,” (I’ve heard this more frequently than I can count), zero empathy for patients with psychiatric issues of any kind, pettiness, favoritism in assignments, low morale, general ennui.

The schedule is released only a couple weeks before it starts, which really sucks and makes life VERY HARD TO PLAN, and requesting time off is complicated and cumbersome.

Management that is absent, aloof, ineffective, and never leads by example. 

PCAs are treated poorly, and not protected by the union.

The pay is very low compared to where I worked before.

The benefits seem great, and some of them are, but it takes months to be seen within the OSU system. The EAP here is also severely lacking in terms of what services are available compared to other companies. They talk a big game in New Employee Orientation about how much they care about staff well-being, and that is absolutely untrue.

The cafeteria is awful, and the hospital is full of almost exclusively unhealthy food. The hot food is extremely bad regularly.

Staff are not, in general, kind, supportive, understanding, curious, intellectually vibrant, or calm. I have observed a culture of inappropriate emotional reactivity, entitlement, blame-attempting vs solution finding, pettiness, and selfishness. (And I am a nurse, btw, who is staunchly in support of the idea that HCWs should not be expected to be emotional or physical punching bags, and  should be empowered to set strong and clear boundaries with patients and families.)

THE RACISM. I’m white, and get to hear my white coworkers from all over the hospital say heinously casually racist things within my hearing on a weekly basis. Often multiple times each week. I have never worked somewhere with such an open and casual relationship with racially or ethnically charged speech. And if it’s brought to their attention, they seem shook and offended.

Being low on the seniority ladder makes things a little miserable (vacation time, getting overtime, etc).

Complete and maintain accurate records or reports regarding the patients' histories and progress, services provided, or other required information. 	
Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes. 	
Develop client treatment plans based on research, clinical experience, and client histories.
Conduct chemical dependency program orientation sessions.	
Participate in case conferences or staff meetings.	
Coordinate counseling efforts with mental health professionals or other health professionals, such as doctors, nurses, or social workers.	
Review and evaluate clients' progress in relation to measurable goals described in treatment and care plans.	
Interview clients, review records, and confer with other professionals to evaluate individuals' mental and physical condition and to determine their suitability for participation in a specific program.	
Plan or implement follow-up or aftercare programs for clients to be discharged from treatment programs.	
Assess individuals' degree of drug dependency by collecting and analyzing urine samples.	
Intervene as an advocate for clients or patients to resolve emergency problems in crisis situations. 	
Attend training sessions to increase knowledge and skills.	
Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in client status.	
Provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary. 	
Coordinate activities with courts, probation officers, community services, or other post-treatment agencies.	
Counsel family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, and supporting clients or patients.	
Develop, implement, or evaluate public education, prevention, or health promotion programs, working in collaboration with organizations, institutions, or communities.	
Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions.	
Train or supervise student interns or new staff members.
Act as liaisons between clients and medical staff.
Confer with family members or others close to clients to keep them informed of treatment planning and progress.
Follow progress of discharged patients to determine effectiveness of treatments.

I'm a contingent worker who primarily works during the weekends (occasional week day shifts). There are only 3 social workers during the weekend shifts to cover the 4 main buildings (Ross, Rhodes, James, and Doan) which makes the shifts very busy, yet manageable if you are organized and have the ability to multi-task. My shift is anywhere from 8-10hrs; depending on how well I keep up with my documentation. Majority of my shift is arranging and finalizing discharge planning.

Though I've been at this job for over a year, I only work 2-3 weekend shifts per month which equates to being at a job nearly 2 months. My training has been difficult as I work with different people each week and do different activites each shift. When I have the opportunity to work a week straight, I'm able to learn different aspects of this position much better.

I've learned a lot in this position regarding health care, community resources, and coordination of services. I've truly enjoyed working at OSU Wexner Medical Center. Staff is patient and willing to help me learn once they know I'm new to the shift, service, or floor. It's truly a teaching hospital.

The hardest part of the job is managing the multiple requests that is submitted through the pager. It's only recently that a 3rd Social Worker was hired to work specically the James hospital. I've found this to be extremely helpful alleviate work. What's also helpful is working shifts with an experienced social worker whom I able to keep in communication with and ask questions.

I worked in the Sterile Processing Department (SPD) at Ohio State University Hospital and Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (New Tower) for about 13 months. I decided to quit after 13 months along with 4 other new employees due to SPD leadership creating a toxic work environment for all of us Instrument Coordinators.
From my experience working in both hospitals, SPD leadership seemed very disconnected from the day-to-day realities faced by Instrument Coordinators work . There was a strong emphasis on meeting operating room demands, which often resulted in increased workloads, adding more responsibilities for Instrument Coordinator staff and not caring or valuing Instrument Coordinator staff opinions. At times, this made it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. I was always feeling overworked every end of the week, never rotated me, worked in decontamination everyday, my opinions to them didn’t matter and they would even make your work harder if you shared an opinion they did not agree about.
I also observed a relatively high turnover rate among SPD Instrument Coordinators quitting during my time working there in as little as 3 months or 4 months which is a reflection of the toxic work environment the SPD leadership created for all of us. While the role provides valuable experience, I felt that improvements could be made in employee support, workload management, rotating workers  and compensation.
Overall, the compensation is not worth all of their expectations, SPD leadership doesn’t care about your opinion, they will use you for their own gain and if your a new employee, be ready to be overworked, under appreciated and not valued whatsoever. I would not recommend anyone experienced or new to work in neither hospital.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center has provided me with the platform to help make life-changing differences in people’s lives as the Director of its Strategic Growth and Facility Operations for Ambulatory Services.

I’ve been able to find happiness and purpose in helping each member of our university and medical center team to create a positive patient experience, expand our available services and access to care into the community within Central Ohio, and ensure that our building operations are as efficient and accommodating as possible. 

As a leader, I believe each person on a team needs to be held accountable without being micromanaged, but truly need to work hard. I recognize the value in hiring talented people and collaborating with them on projects that will most benefit from their unique skills.

My typical day involves simultaneously spinning the plates of preparing budgets, planning strategically, providing professional development, measuring performance metrics, and overseeing daily operations across our facilities, among other duties. A visitor could see me attending to a parking issue at one building, then later that day directing construction at another building before I head to a meeting to help design high-level growth strategy programs.

My most rewarding accomplishments at Ohio State have been:
- Gathering clear metrics to measure our success
- Aligning our team and facilities to provide greater access to care and get more patients back to the activities they enjoy
- Collaborating with experts from the university and medical center

As with any job or workplace The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center has its pros and cons.  On the pro side is the fact that the benefits for the OSUWMC are top notch and I'm not sure if you could find a better health care or retirement plan.  Additionally OSUWMC has plenty of fringe benefits like the opportunity to obtain football tickets, take leadership development courses--if you can find the time to attend--and great day care facilities.  On the con side I personally found it extremely difficult to find opportunities to advance within the organization, and trying to find help with job placement internally is a challenging endeavor.

My job title at OSUWMC was a Clinical Trials Coordinator, and my typical day was generally comprised of conducting research assessments, interacting with industry sponsors and research monitors (i.e., CRA's & CRO's), managing regulatory compliance with both the OSUWMC IRB and with WIRB, inputting data into Electronic Data Capture systems (i.e., EDC's), maintaining patient adverse event and concomitant medication logs, maintaining drug compliance logs, writing up Serious Adverse Events, conducting medical chart reviews, charting, and occasionally attending investigator meetings all across the country.

My typical workday consists of: a team huddle to discuss the upcoming day, in order to make any necessary adjustments for proper patient care.  Reviewing clinic and office staff to ensure appropriate coverage.  Running reports for the previous day to ensure all work was completed correctly.  Reconciliation of the previous days billing and charge entry.  Meeting with upper management regarding budget, patient satisfaction, hospital policy changes and any upcoming events.  Continuously working to market the program via visits to physician offices and area hospitals, designing brochures and ensuring website updates.

I have learned a great deal regarding sales and marketing, budgeting, hospital policy, recruitment, managing personalities and the interviewing process.  

We have a very diverse and interesting group of people within our clinic.  Our staff works very well together and have a good understanding of how each role contributes to accomplishing the vision of the program.

The most difficult part of my job would have to be letting go of responsibilities that I were previously entrusted to me and have now been assigned elsewhere.

The most enjoyable part of my job is definitely being able to see what a positive impact our services are having on so many of our patients.  There is nothing more gratifying than when a patient comes back to thank our staff for giving them their life back.

I had bright hopes coming into this job, mostly because of the college tuition benefit from OSU. This job was terrible, and because of it there was no way I was going to school working there. Which the benefits only kicked in after a SIX MONTH probationary period, where they could fire you whenever they felt like it. There were maybe two or three managers out of the total eight who were good. The rest of them were scum and hated their jobs just as much as anyone else would. They used good workers and ground them into dirt until they no longer saw the value of their work.

Do not misunderstand because the position I held, Custodial Worker, was an important one. We sanitized rooms after each patient left, as well as during their stay, to make sure there was no spread of disease or sickness while they were there. I loved being able to interact with the patients. But, just because I thought my job was important, didn't mean the nurses, doctors, front desk clerk, or administrators would treat you any better. You were nothing but a lowly janitor to them and they treated you as such.

Also, there floor cleaner is essentially just soapy water. Don't ever touch anything on the floor, it's absolutely disgusting. When the floors start tearing up it's because I poured bleach on the ground in quarantined rooms to make sure everything was dead. You're welcome.

This company sucks. Don't work in environmental services.

At OSUMC I helped recruit nurses and some non-clinical staff. I screened applications, checked references and certifications, and scheduled interviews daily. I had to be extremely organized in order to complete my work. My supervisor provided me with challenges including performing phone interviews for student positions. I worked within a team of three individuals in the recruiting department. The other individuals in my position also considered ourselves as team members. We met weekly to ensure that each part of the hospital was recruited consistently and that any conflicts were resolved in a timely manner. I learned the value of teamwork most of all. Without my co-workers I do not believe I would have been so successful. I also learned a lot about the HR field and how to help the hospital achieve its goals. The most difficult part of that position was trying to staff three new floors of the hospital in a matter of months. We had to quickly screen and hire candidates while abiding by the nurse's union laws and helping the IT and payroll teams keep up with our hiring numbers. The most enjoyable part of that position was that I was valued. Each meeting with my co-workers and boss brought new accomplishments and goals. 

A great hospital for Nurses!!
The OSU Transplant Unit has the reputation for urgent, collaborative, compassionate high standards care that is reflected in every care member of the unit from nursing to housekeeping.We have had the fortune to have Nursing managers who continue to love and participate in hands on Nursing care, and are fierce nurse and patient advocates.
OSU hospital offers Nurses many opportunities to advance in education and experience; certification in a specialty area is strongly encouraged once the nurse is oriented to a unit, and all nurses are strongly encouraged to seek higher staff levels (with compensation!) through a special program. Tuition reimbursement for nurses and family members is available. Nurses are expected to round with physicians on their patients, and are considered valuable members of the care team. All nurses are encouraged to participate in Unit and hospital committees--and their suggestions do make a difference and drive improvements in patient care!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 8 salaries reported	$37.63 per hour
Clinical research coordinator 5 salaries reported	$60,190 per year
Patient assistant 3 salaries reported	$17.67 per hour
Care associate 11 salaries reported	$17.68 per hour
Clinical research assistant 4 salaries reported	$19.50 per hour

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