registered nurse

food service associate

assistant

psychiatric technician

Winnebago Mental Health Institute

Aside from the everyday risks associated with the job, the hardest aspect of being a PCT for WMHI is working 16 hours regularly without notice. There are times when you will have to work 16 hour shifts 2 days in a row (or more). Most of the time you will not find out about the overtime until the last minute either. Additionally, the rotation is 6 days on and two off for the most part. Even if you are willing to work the crazy schedule, be prepared to deal with conflict on a daily basis. The patients can be dangerous too. Some of the staff you work with will be great and some will be awful. On top of challenging patients and staff, I cannot say there was a single person in management that I would consider trustworthy. The only good thing I can say about WMHI is that you will have very interesting stories to tell.

I am the unit clerk on an adult admissions unit. We typically receive anywhere from 50-70 admissions per month. I coordinate the patient list for new and discharging patients every morning for the Doctor's. I arrange staffing's for the Doctor's and Social Workers. I keep current inventory of the unit's patient care needs and also office inventory as well. I am the switchboard for the unit, I transfer phone call as well as screen them for the staff and patient's. 

This is a very fast paced environment and can be very challenging. My co-workers are pleasant and we create a productive work environment. Due to the mental status of most of the patient's on the unit, it can be a dangerous environment as well as challenging. Every single day is different and unpredictable.

Stressful, unsafe, do not listen to employees, retaliation, throw own staff under the bus and try to blame the hard working staff that interact pts and care for the patients when problems go wrong. Management does not listen to recommendations. Always staffed short and management lies to your face and keeps information from you and puts you in the line of danger. The management culture is full of hypocrisy. The actual staff who interact with the patients and care for them do the very best they can with the minimal support from management. Short staffed, high turnover rate, and unsafe for all. Expected to do 9563284571856854574 tasks every day and your mental health is NOT valued.

A typical day is never the same at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.  As Sr Tech I have learned lot about managing time and resources to complete the daily workflow. with many  challenges of staffing I have  moved into this roll with some apprehensive but have loved the challenge of IQAP, daily quality control and trouble shooting among many other  things including  bench work on a daily basis- Chemistry, Therapeutic Drug monitoring, Hematology and Urines-both routine and Drug screens. I have earned a lot about myself and what I am capable of both as a tech and how I am driven to  seek perfection in both results and personal achievements.

ADMINISTERED MEDICATIONS,MONITOR AND ASSESSED PATIENTS PSYCHIATRIC AND EMOTIONAL STATUS.WROTE SUMMARIES TO COURT ABOUT PT'S ABILITY TO STAND TRIAL
OR INCOMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL.
     MANAGEMENT WAS GREAT AND THEY LISTENED TO ANY SUGGESTIONS  THAT I HAD.
     MY CO-WORKER WORKED AS A TEAM ,THE PATIENTS COULD GET VIOLENT AT TIMES.WE MADE SURE THE PATIENTS AS WELL AS STAFF DID NOT GET HURT TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITIES.
     THE HARDEST PART OF THIS JOB WAS SEEING THE PATIENTS COME BACK IN AS A RESULT OF RETURNING TO DRUGS AND ALCOHOL OR HEARING THAT THEY COMMITTED SUICIDE.
     THE MOST ENJOYABLE PART OF THE JOB WAS SEEING THE PATIENTS IMPROVE IN MENTAL HEALTH AND SEEING THEM PARTICIPATE WITH OTHERS AND SMILE!

What is the best part of working at the company?
Leaving. Went from a patient oriented community to a revolving door prison-like community. May have improved after 2023 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Unsafe referrals and distant management. RNs and PCTs were often heroic which mitigated.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Type X mgt. No 360 . CERNER did a scathing review for state. In Milwaukee Journal in in  2017 or 2018 I brlieve . 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Rounded  at 0630 to triage. . Mgt avoided dangerous units . Nurse managers usually great partners running units. No command and control over that operational level. Hopefully has improved with doubled provider number.

It's possible to make a great deal of money here, because of all the overtime, but you destroy your life in doing so. I did not work here as a full time State of WI employee. I was a short term employee with an opportunity to be hired full time. I'm glad I didn't survive the final cut. Mandatory double shifts play havoc with human health and, above all, human mental health. The State of Wisconsin needs to spend whatever is necessary to cover schedules, without subjecting individuals employees to what, in most civilized nations, would be regarded as torture.

In my career at WMHI a typical day at work consists of working with acute patients.  To help pts with ADL's, transporting to and from school, with meals, and to ensure pts are using proper coping skills when in distress.  I learned at my years at WMHI of the vast mental illnesses and how to help pts cope with their mental illness.  The managers that I worked with at WMHI are very approachable and understanding of the hard work that a treatment team provides.  The hardest part of my job was working a lot of mandatory overtime.  I enjoyed watching pts get better at coping with their mental illness.

This was a great job at times however, it is extremely stressful work. The patients may be in an altered state of mind due to mental illness so it's always important to be alert. With covid, discharge planning was incredibly difficult and at times, this harmed the well-being being of patients who were deemed mentally stable. If you are seeking work-life balance look else where. Also, the social work administration needs a lot of work, and the training was semisupportove, but needs to be reexamined!!! You can not throw social work professionals into this kind of work!!!

What is the best part of working at the company?
Mostly M-F. Very few weekends. The weekends you do work, you can flex your time to fit your schedule

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Lots of preventative maintenance requirements. Toxic environment. No support from management. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic. Rumors spread like wildfire.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Super busy from beginning to end.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 2 salaries reported	$44.89 per hour
Food service associate 8 salaries reported	$16.67 per hour
Assistant 3 salaries reported	$17.76 per hour
Psychiatric technician 1 salary reported	$34.59 per hour

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