registered nurse

nursing assistant

scheduler

pharmacy technician

medical technologist

UW Health

Very active, on your feet all day, pushing carts and delivering patient meals. Verifying patient name and DOB, setting up table, moving onto the next room. There is time pressure to move quickly, the goal being 35 minutes or less (from ticket print to room delivery) for carts of up to 12 trays at a time. Delivering to both main hospital and children’s hospital next door (they are connected). Make sure you are using proper lifting form, lots of bending down and squatting and could hurt wrists or back. Some food preparation and portioning, side tasks between meal service times. Interaction with many many many people every day, staff and patients and visitors alike. Some work on the line as expeditors and assemble cold/prepackaged foods after the cooks pass food over. Some get cross trained in the sanitation/dish room and some get cross trained to stock nursing unit kitchenettes upstairs. Workplace culture can be calm if you keep to yourself and mind your own business, but leads and supervisors and management do play favorites. Coworkers frequently gossip about each other. AM shifts currently start between 5am and 7am, PM shifts start between 11am and (1pm?); some get consistent schedules and some don’t. You aren’t allowed to request days on your scheduled weekends off, only allowed to trade shifts with other people for that, but weekdays can be requested off (seems to depend on the person and supervisor if it gets approved). I’ve learned about a lot of different workplace personalities one might encounter who have come and gone through this place, some very volatile and some quite nice, and it’s a learning experience in patience. 

Pros: Cafeteria food is pretty good, Amazing healthcare benefits, PTO buildup of approximately 4 hours sick leave and 4 hours vacation leave per 2-week pay period (roughly a day of each per month), PTO can be cashed out if accumulated, time and a half for working holidays, free bus pass, FMLA, technically there’s some discounts at a few specific local businesses if you look into it

Cons: Obnoxiously punitive attendance policy, Inconsistent/frequently changing or miscommunicated protocols and poor training, Complete disregard for doctors’ notes and employee wellbeing (despite plenty of corporate wellness advertising everywhere) including from HR, Bad enforcement of food safety rules, Failed multiple health inspections, Encouraged & pressured to come to work while sick, Written up for calling in sick or being 3+ minutes late more than 3 times in 90 days, Expensive cafeteria food even with 5% discount, AM shift lunch break happens right as the cafeteria is closing most stations between breakfast and lunch, Cannot apply to transfer departments if there has been a warning in the past year (even if just for being 3 minutes late a few times), Blatant favoritism, Cross-training people for roles that they did not apply for and then assigning those shifts all the time without corresponding increase in pay, Management and supervisors can be very rude, Turnover rate is extremely high, Yearly raise barely keeps up with inflation, No clear prospect of individually getting a raise, Nearly always understaffed, Parking is super expensive if you drive, Buses don’t come early enough for some people’s scheduled AM shifts

Location: Uw Health at The American Center- 

Best experience I've had working with the group of co-workers I was with. So supportive and positive. On the other hand, maagement was less than supportive, very focused on by the book rules and seemed to forget they had humans working for them. That was the general consensus for the majority of staff. Any concerns were "out of their hands" and they relied on upper management for literally every decision that could be made. Work was never boring though, it was something new each day, which was nice. At first the work load was very manageable, unfortunately, once Covid hit, it was %110 impossible to manage 9-10 patients with a heavy burden of care and special precautions. Usually the load had roughly 6 two assist, 7 incontinent and most needing assistance with meals in some way. 80% were diabetic, and you were responsible for carb count and sugars for all of your patients. The isolation and food service procedures made it very challenging to take 7 patients' blood sugars on time. Many of patients suffered dementia. After a certain time in the afternoon, it was impossible to help all of those engaging in unsafe behavior and to be sure that your patients who need reminders to toilet or be changed, are also taken care of. Since we had to minimize the number of times we'd go in and out of rooms, you would be stuck in room, after room, after room, waiting on supplies or assistance. All while being simultaneously &  repeatedly called to other rooms - quite literally - non-stop, for 12 hours. You would hopelessly try your best to keep your confused and unaware patients safe, without the means to so so. Keep in mind, we had to clean our PAPRs, don and doff gowns/gloves and clean equipment in-between each patient encounter. Discharges, admits and escorts to imaging, begin to feel like a welcomed break in the day. Each patient was isolated without the support of loved ones or face-to-face interaction with a single soul, other than the nursing staff. They were horribly lonley and it effected their health, without a doubt. We were not given support staff to try and combat the these horribly-unmanageable and quite frankly - sad circumstances. Instead patients could tell that we were rushed and I can imagine it appeared as though we just simply didn't care about them. The workload was often unbalanced as well. The Covid unit would have 2 CNAs wiith 25 patients, while the other impatient floor had as little as 14  patients WITHOUT Covid and the extra steps needed for the special isolation. In turn, this often left nurses responsible fo the daily cares of many patients, when their other patients were rapidly declining and medically complex. 

The most typical day consisted of arriving at assigned clinic and introducing self to staff, Trying to learn how things were done at each clinic and where supplies, physicians rooms and nurses stations were.  Would generally check schedule and set up the room according to reason for visit, Then would take patients to rooms as appointment times neared, would get brief medical history,weight, current reason for seeing physician, would get vital signs, check what current medications patient was on, and chart while they were talking to me.  Then would let physician know patient was ready for them. Sometimes would do EKG's or Pulmonary breathing test per Physician's orders.  Would assist physician with some procedures or just be s witness in the room during physical examination.  Would do prescription refills, triage occasionally, set appointments for return visit, Set up any testing needed with other physicians or techs...Order blood tests or other therapies for patient per physicians orders. Clean and reset rooms  Do any necessary charting and cleaning at the end of the day.  
I learned that each clinic I floated to was way different from the others, and that some people expect you to just know,  The actual float nurse management I felt was not a very good advocate for their staff and didn't seem very helpful with issues.  
My co-workers changed often daily and unless I regularly was scheduled in a particular clinic, I didn't really get to know them or they get to know me.  This was also probably the hardest part of my job because some of them just did not seem friendly or helpful and resented my high energy level.
The most enjoyable part of my job was probably meeting some really nice patients and fellow nurses on occasion.

This job is only for people wanting to take a stepping stone towards a career in law enforcement and I say that lightly. For the first month it’s great as your learning quite a bit. First the schedule is detrimental and just awful. Going 6 weeks without a weekend off even though you have time off during the week was the absolute worse thing for me. After that first month your on your own and it is one of the most boring jobs there could be. Security is viewed as the absolute worse there. Security is constantly being criticized by other departments for the lack of work they do, and there’s some truth to it. There’s months you won’t do anything for your 8 hours, and then there’s days here and there that you could be. Management promised advancement opportunities while during the interview. But everyone there is stuck where they are nobody is leaving anytime soon. Management also turns towards you once they know your leaving. I was there about 6 months and that was 6 months to long. Your co-workers will push all their work into you, and turn on you every instance they can. The work environment is toxic there, and I wouldn’t recommend this job to anyone. The starting pay may be a little higher then other security officer positions, but it’s not worth the stress. Especially when you get stuck at dispatch 15 times a month while the OIC (officer in charge) gets to pick their schedules and pretty much screw you over. Also they don’t keep track of days you have off as multiple times I got called asking where I was for work. I would consider looking elsewhere before I ever recommend this place to anyone. The amount of stress incurred from this place, the little pay they pay security officers get compared to janitorial staff, and how security is viewed as a whole department you will always have a losing battle that can never be won.

A typical day at work was massaging patients and doing employees chair massage. I loved working with the patients!! Majority of my immediate co workers were wonderful, not all of them though. Depending on what floor you were working most of the RN's were nice but the other half were caddy and I dreaded working on those floors.
Work loads were not distributed evenly and for some reason if you were not a "yes man" you got shafted. Promotion of a brand new job came up and only the "yes men" got picked to be questioned by the other massage therapists. The person who was picked is nice but management was looking for someone to stay within managements box and not think outside of it.
The hardest part of my job was dealing with caddy RN's, yuk! But I'll tell you when it was time for employee chair massage they were your best friend.
The most enjoyable part was working with patients. Loved to work with the elderly and cancer patients. Cancer patients are the most grateful people even though they are going through very hard times. Some know they will pass on soon and it breaks your heart but knowing you could provide some sort of comfort to them in their time was a touching moment for me. For someone who is dying to allow you to come into their short time was a special feeling I will never forget.
The benefits are good, I had a "wrap" plan which was excellent and that picked up anything my husbands ins didn't, even all the co-pays!! One thing they told me when hired was if you ever need to go to employee health for any reason, "they are there to help." What a joke!
When you do your pre-employment questionnaire, make sure you put down every bump, bruise, trip, fall, sickness etc you've ever had in your ENTIRE LIFE FROM BIRTH or HR will come back at you on it and "let you go" if you ever get hurt!!

I work in mental health (behavioral health).  I am full-time. I do not recommend any of the mental health positions. I know many talented clinicians (social workers, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses) that quit. I will be joining the smart ones who left soon. there have also been many talented physicians and advanced providers who left. 

Management will sell you snake oil. THey will look you right in your eye and tell you lies. Do not expect the truth. Expect to be misguided and let down. Their only focus is on me-me-me...to advance their position and make themsevles look better.  

I heard many false promises. I watched my manager lie to my coworker and lie in different meetings we had. l brought up issues with human resources, director of psychiatry and mental health services, committee members for mental health...and nothing. I tried to talk to my manager...and nothing. 

And that is what you receive when you come here and dedicate your talent....nothing. I have seen coworkers in the mental health division get slammed and shammed by management for asking for a day off for an excusable reason. I caught my child's viral pneuomona and had a high fever. i guess i will never ever get sick during the work week again.

There is a lot of change here. Many people are unhappy in many different areas of the hospital. This system has been tanking since I started years ago. If you want pressure to help bill money for a hospital that is in butt loads of debt and pressure to bill in sketchy and sleazy ways AND be yelled at for the one day you might need to use your excused time-off, then maybe this is for you. if not, go elsewhere.

     An awful experience overall. First of all, the job posting was a bait and switch. I was promised that I could move into the desired role in six months. When I asked about this about four months into the role, they said that they couldn't do that. Turns out they have lied to many people in the same way before. Then, I wanted to do an online MLT program (a job that they DESPERATELY need people for), but would have needed to leave an hour early one day a week to attend in-person labs. They would not allow this either. I had to find another job so that I could go back to school. I left on very good terms, particularly with the physicians. When I was forced to leave after six months, I was the employee that had been in the role the longest, AND they were short-staffed. They would rather completely screw over their employees and patients than allow someone to work their way up, and after speaking with HR, it was revealed that this is a company policy.
     Now even with more education and experience, they still won't hire me for the role. Management also took credit for much of my work and ideas. My experience was bad enough that I took my research project elsewhere and no longer considering applying to medical school here. Also, I would highly discourage residents from coming here. Residency is difficult enough without having to also do the work of the 2/3 missing support workers that they can't retain.

I worked at The American Center for a little over 3 years. I loved my job. It's a place you work and retire from (unrelated issues forced me out of the job, for now). The management staff is fair and laid back with those who come in and do their best, but are firm with those whose unprofessional behavior would impede the work flow. They have short, daily meetings so that employees and managers are always on the same page, day-to-day and week-to-week. There are lots of employee benefits including discounted emergency daycare, on site gym, pool, basketball court and turf field. Discounts at nice restaurants and cheap movie tickets as well as big discounts on over the counter medicines from their pharmacy. They even have several days throughout the year where the President buys every employee a free cup of coffee from the on-site Beans and Cream. They recognized my strengths and experience almost immediately and moved me into a weekend supervisor position. Their pay is fair and competitive.

So far as I've heard within the company, this is unique to the American Center location, and the environment at the main hospital is way different.

Unfortunately, this was one of the most discouraging professional environments I have experienced. While the organization presents itself as supportive of behavioral health, the reality for many clinical staff can be very different. Leadership often seemed disconnected from the day to day demands of providing therapy, and expectations placed on clinicians frequently felt unrealistic and unsustainable.

Concerns raised by staff were often met with little meaningful change, which contributed to a culture where burnout and frustration were common. Many therapists and staff members genuinely care about their patients and try to provide excellent care, but the lack of consistent support from management makes it difficult to sustain that level of work long term.

The patients and many coworkers are wonderful, but the organizational culture and leadership approach make the environment challenging for clinical staff. With stronger leadership, better communication, and a clearer understanding of the demands placed on therapists, this could be a much healthier workplace

Scheduling single & mutiple testing for patients. Working closely with patients over the phone as well as Dr. offices & hospital departments on a daily basis. Coordination of testing between departments in a timely manner using Meditech scheduling modules. Worked with management to find ways to make scheduling faster & more timely. Worked with departments when needing to close/open their schedules. Mostly worked independently, however there was occasion when other a co-worker needed assistance coordinating patient schdules, or ystem problems. The hardest part was meeting department goals which were average speed answered, the goal was 45 seconds, but calls were backed up more often than not. Working with the staff of Swedish American & getting many tests scheduled made each day enjoyable. Spreading cheer to departments that could be overwhelmed at times made the day go by.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 30 salaries reported	$46.42 per hour
Nursing assistant 5 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour
Scheduler 4 salaries reported	$20.40 per hour
Pharmacy technician 4 salaries reported	$21.62 per hour
Medical technologist 1 salary reported	$21.57 per hour

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