Hospitals in Denver Metro Area???

Hello, I have heard that Denver Health is a good hospital to work for. That is, they seem to treat their employees well and the pay isn't bad, either. I spoke to a nurse that works in the M-ICU there and she really loves working for Denver Health, and had plenty of praise for the hospital and her co-workers (and she was also a new-grad nurse). Denver Health also lists the pay rates on their job postings. Good luck!! I'm still trying to get into a nursing school.

I'm a nursing student, and we do quite a few of the local hospitals for clinical rotations.

I can't tell you the best, but I can tell you the ones to avoid:

North Suburban Medical Center- very unhappy nurses there. Too many problems to list here, the nurses are hostile to each other, and others.

Veterans Adminstration Hospital- One word---UNDERFUNDED

Denver Health's ER is known as the "Knife and Gun Club" on Friday and Saturday nights.

St Joseph Hospital has some great internship programs in ICU, ER, etc. I have a couple of friends who love it there. This is a teaching hospital, young docs, and other specialities training. There's more info on their website: http://www.exempla.org/body.cfm?id=27 Click on Careers.

Children's Hospital only hires BSN's.

Good luck to you!

Asia

I worked in all the southern hospitals so I guess I can comment on them.
Swedish is a level I trauma center. Mostly non-penetrating trauma. Nursing seemed pretty happy. They have a wide variety of floors and some very impressive work in neuro trauma. Limited peds. Good Level three nursery. Only OB in south Denver. Younger nursing staff but seemed happy. They have a unit called the PCU that is possibly has the strangest design of any unit I have ever seen.

Porter. Strong nursing staff. Great med surg and ICU nursing. Busy ICU with lots of medical and medium sized open heart program. Busy ortho. Older nursing staff but lots of students. Nurses seemed happy.

The other southern hospitals:

Littleton. The saying in Denver was that it was a heck of a hospital for a hotel. Every room with a view of the mountains (before the new wing). With the advent of their level II trauma center several years ago it has become a very strong hospital nursing wise. Older nursing staff but happy.

Skyridge. (personal bias alert). Overall the nurse are very competent. There were isolated pockets of dissatisfaction and lots of travelers when I was working there. Very demanding patient population with a sense of entitlement. Only place I have ever seen a patient admitted for two weeks with IBS. Very nice hospital physical plant.

Other hospitals:
P/SL - very strong hospital. Tertiary referral center for Health One. Good nursing staff. Large complex ICU. (personal bias alert) Hospital was designed by a hotel designer and has several peculiarities. Only other real peds area outside of Children's. Good nursing staff.

Rose - (personal bias alert) My favorite hospital to work at. Strong community hospital with a good culture. Small peds floor. Otherwise strong nursing in all areas.

To the OP. There aren't a whole lot of malignant hospitals in the area. The ones that I have heard complaints from nurses about are Aurora, the smaller northern hospitals (SAN, Platte Valley and Avista). The other issue is that unlike other cities there is no designated tertiary hospital. Because of this different hospitals have developed specialties.
(my opinion)
Trauma DG, SAC, SMC
Heart P/SL, SAC, St Joes
Peds Children's P/SL
OB St Joes, Rose, Swedish, Littleton
Neuro SMC, SAC

Key DG (Denver Health) SAC (Saint Anthony's Central), SMC (Swedish Medical Center), P/SL (Presbyterian Saint Luke's), St Joes (Saint Josephs)

You can choose based on where you are going to live. Commutes are bad but not Atlanta/LA bad.

The other thing to consider is which system do you want to work in. There are essentially three.

Health One which is a joint venture with HCA. They own Skyridge, Swedish, P/SL, Rose, Aurora, and run Platte Valley (East, Central and South Denver).

Centura which is a joint venture between the Catholic Health Care Initiatives and the Adventists. They own Saint Anthony's Central and North, Porter, Littleton, Avista and Parker (West and Southern Denver)

Exempla is a joint Venture between the Sisters of Charity and Lutheran Hosptial. They own Saint Josephs, Lutheran and Good Samaritan (west and central Denver - Good Sam is in the northern suburbs.

The rest are Denver Health, Childrens and University which are all sort of aligned.

One option that I have seen younger nurses use is to work in one of the big downtown hospitals originally and then as they have kids move to one of the suburban hospitals. Any of the major systems will allow you to do this.

You could also consider based on the hospital construction. Skyridge is less than 5 years old. Both University and Childrens are less than 2 years old and Saint Anthony's just started a new campus in the western suburbs.

The final issue is the Pay. I would estimate it runs 20% less than you would expect due to the cost of living. We call this the view tax. It a phenomenon of people wanting to move to Colorado and are willing to accept lesser wages.

Lots of choices.

David Carpenter, PA-C

No! Good Sam's is in the city of Lafayette, CO, Boulder County. Definitely not a suburb of Denver. (cringe)

Jules, get your map out. We'll do a quick down and dirty geography lesson. As Core0 pointed out, where do you want to live?

Everything on the east side of the Rockies are the Front Range, anything on the west side of the Rockies are the Western Slope. Look at I-25, north and south, from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, now, look at I-70, east and west, from the eastern part with small towns to the foot of the Rockies.

Anything south of I-70 (east or west side) are pretty expensive for buying or renting, Englewood, Littleton, Highland Ranch, Centennial, Greenwood Village, Cherry Creek, Parker, etc. However, if you're into the Night Club life, this is where it happens. Lots of young professional people live here.

East of I-25, Northglenn, Thornton, parts of Westminster, parts of Denver and Federal Heights is more working class. It's cheaper to live there, and multi-ethnic.

West of I-25, Arvada, parts of Westminster, Wheat Ridge, more expensive, closer to the mountains, more money. Everything is by the view of the mountains, and you pay for the view. This is standard for anything on the Front Range.

Boulder County is expensive. The city of Boulder is outrageous, flat out insane. It's illegal to nuclear bomb Boulder. It's a law! University town! Lafayette, Louisville, Longmont, and Berthoud---small towns expanding way too fast, but cheaper than Boulder, except for Superior. Superior has a housing development, where there are 2800 square foot houses behind the 4800 square foot house. The smaller houses are for the servants.

The City and County of Broomfield used to be part of Boulder County. They broke away, and became their own county. Not as expensive as Boulder, and quick access to I-25, and US-36. US-36 is the main highway to get to Denver,other towns south of Boulder, and I-25.

Fort Collins, expensive to live there. It's a university town, like Boulder. However, I've heard Poudre Valley Hospital is real Graduate Nurse friendly.

Directly east of Fort Collins is Greeley. Greeley's nickname is Cowtown among native Coloradoans. Ummm, need I say more???

The commute isn't as bad as LA or Atlanta. It still sucks! Add snow or ice to that, and it's very unfunny. Mass transit is OK, but not as good as major cities.

Invest in thermal underwear for your first winter. Trust me, you'll need and use them.

Hope this helps.

Asia

P.S. I completely forgot Aurora. Another multi-ethnic city, several hospitals here. Not as expensive, remember, everything is by the view of the mountains here. Aurora is east of I-25.

My father works at Denver Health...not as a nurse, but he knows many nurses there. He loves it, and they do to. Great benefits, pay, and atmosphere.

Personally I don't like the hospitals in Aurora, the ones I have been to and the ones coworkers and friends have been too...nothing good to say about them.

Does anyone know anything about Parker Adventist? I live in Parker, had the second child at PA, brought the children to the children's hospital located there, and my husband had minor surgery there. As a patient I have nothing but good things to say...but how is the work enviroment? Anyone know??

I would reccomend Denver Health Medical Center to any nurse looking to relocate to the Denver area. Great pay and benefits. A stellar learning environment! I worked there for only 18 months. Not because I did not enjoy it, but because the cost of living was way to high. If you can handle the expenses, though, it is so worth it. Good luck!