John Hopkins University Hospital

Sarah Kat · Nov 30, 2003

Originally posted by szccdw
Does anyone have any information pertaining to a new grad for the above hospital? I am looking for information about their preceptorship program after graduation, new grad pay and anything else that may be beneficial. I'd like to hear it all (good or bad). If you always listen to the recruiters they make every place seem like a step away from heaven and then you start working there and find out from the staff it's nothing like you were told. Thnaks for any help you can give.

I don't work there, never have, but my uncle used to (many years ago). He loved it there. Since it's like the #1 teaching hospital in the country and probably the oldest (something like that) I would imagine they pay pretty well. It has an excellent reputation.

DustinRN · Nov 30, 2003

I was reading about John Hopkins the other day and the article I was reading stated they match pay from areas like Philadelphia and Washington DC. The most attractive thing about John Hopkins IMHO is the teaching you get from working there.

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 30, 2003

got a friend doing travel nursing there....

she said it was the worst place she has been yet...for many reasons.

she will never go back.

too big, too busy, too dangerous a neighborhood, too expensive to park, too little time for her patients (labor/delivery)....she just went on and on about it and how much she hated it and was bitterly disappointed in the experience there. Plus she hates Baltimore w/a passion. This is ONE person's perspective, I realize and second-hand from me.

Don't know it this will help but I tried.

KristinWW · Nov 30, 2003

I have a relative who used to work there and echoed all the above reasons for leaving. Apparently the teaching is not what it used to be too.

DustinRN · Nov 30, 2003

Wow, does anyone else have a different perspective? I would have hoped it was different than the aforementioned.

Katnip, RN · Nov 30, 2003

I live near Hopkins. Turned down three jobs there. However, I know one person who does like it...works in onco. One sort of thinks it's ok, will stay a year or two just for the look on the resume.

I know people who were patients there and had nothing good to say about the nursing care because they were so understaffed. Unless of course you've got something extremely exciting and exotic. However, I've met the nurse manager for neurotrauma and I'd followe her anywhere.

When I was in school, I talked to quite a few students from there and we compared notes. I'm glad I didn't go in debt for $40K just for the name.

If, God forbid, one of my kids had cancer or needed brain surgery, I'd take them to Hopkins. They do have a wonderful peds center there. Don't know any nurses who went there for peds though.

As far as benefits and preceptorships, their website has all that. Check under the employment link. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Oh, yeah, and at Hopkins, the Doctor is sitll GOD.

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Nov 30, 2003

My lawyer went there to be treated for colon cancer, because the local physicians gave up on him and told him he didn't have much longer to live. That was back in 1997, and as far as I know, he's still in practice.

Fran

PennyLane, RN · Nov 30, 2003

I know one nurse who currently works there and loves it. She was in the ED and now in an ICU. Another worked for a couple of years in L&D but left Hopkins to travel. From what I hear new grads start around $49,000/year on average. Yes, the neighborhood is bad. It certainly isn't the nicest part of Baltimore, by ANY means. (And I hope no one judges all of the city by East Baltimore.)

My sister was a patient there on their bone marrow transplant unit and had lots of good things to say about the nurses. That's what got me interested in nursing in the first place.

If I stay in MD after I graduate, I'd think about getting a job there. Plus they offer full tuition reimbursement for any of their employees seeking further education.

charles-thor · Nov 30, 2003

I worked in the Surgical ICU at Hopkins for 2 years and loved every minute of it! The case load was challenging (not in an unsafe way), the teaching was top notch, and the nursing staff was extremely knowledgeable. New grads in the ICUs receive between 4-6 months orientation, which is a lot more than other area hospitals. You have to remember that making the transition from nursing school to a busy ICU is practically a 90 degree learning curve, but that's how I did it, and I did just fine. I left Hopkins to go to CRNA school, otherwise I'd still be there. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to pm me.

mattsmom81 · Dec 1, 2003

My sister thinks its an awful place. Her hubby was undergoing some experimental chemo so his docs wanted him there. But the nurses were terribly overworked, everything was disorganized and chaotic and she was amazed that a place with such a great research reputation delivered such poor care.

Perhaps different areas of that facility will do a better job, but my sis will never go back. She much prefers the smaller community hospitals in the local 'burbs like Columbia...and says the staff there are much warmer, more helpful, etc.

PennyLane, RN · Dec 14, 2003

Just read the other day that Hopkins is now officially a Magnet hospital.

http://www.hopkinsnursing.org/magnet/