The Truth about working at the " VA"

I have worked for the VA for ten years. I am a dedicated employee to what the VA does.
The administration and staff leave something to be desired.


THE BAD

1. Housekeeping walks around and goofs off and goes down to smoke all the time. Not just housekeeping in the civilian world...
2. A stat bed has to wait because the housekeeper is on his or her lunch break.. those lunch breaks seem to
last the entire shift. Akin to having to leave the very last bed open in ICU for the truly intensive care needs so the step down unit gets slammed..
3. Secretarys are rude in person and on the phone.. Not just secretarys in the civilian world...
4. It is the most politically correct place in the world to the point of being annoying. Every picture has
every demographic represented. I don't know about demographic representation but I have seen plenty of bad tastes..
5. Although they deny it, I believe they have a quota system for hiring. Everywhere???
6. The administration has no concept of reality when it comes to patient care. WOW the government has this also?
7. People are hired as adminstrators that have no leadership quality what so ever. Again: WOW the government has this also?
8. Time and money are not factors of waste at the VA. Sometimes at some of the places I have worked at they would complain about the most off the wall things while throwing money and manpower at the most oddball things.
9. The person that works at the front desk in a clinic should be nice to people, all of the time, Some of my
experiences as a veteran have been that this person is normally hostile. Happens in the real world but I am not a veteran..
10. It seems that no one ever goes above and beyond the call of duty or to meet the standards, the exception being the patient care staff. I can't say this about any of the places I have worked at.
11. Housekeepers cant clean rooms worth a darn in the inpatient settings. Civilian world too but one housekeeper for 5+ floors...
12. Some pharmacists are rude to both nurses and patients at times. Civilian world also...
13. Alot of VA nurses have only ever worked at the VA, they have no idea how good they have it, none at all.
and when it comes to being pulled or having a heavy assignment every blue moon, all hell breaks loose. Civilian world also...
14. It is sad when the union backs up a nurse who is lazy and has a bad attitude but yet can not be fired. Sometimes I swear the same thing about administration...

The GOOD

1. Patients are taken care of for the most part Civilian world also... But sometimes in the past I had to wounder.
2. Each hospital has a outpatient pharmacy for the veterans, the wait time is long, but they also deliver via
postal service.
3. They spend alot of money rebuilding things, new computer systems, new equipment

I have worked for the VA for ten years. I am a dedicated employee to what the VA does.
The administration and staff leave something to be desired.


THE BAD

1. Housekeeping walks around and goofs off and goes down to smoke all the time.
2. A stat bed has to wait because the housekeeper is on his or her lunch break.. those lunch breaks seem to
last the entire shift.
3. Secretarys are rude in person and on the phone
4. It is the most politically correct place in the world to the point of being annoying. Every picture has
every demographic represented.
5. Although they deny it, I believe they have a quota system for hiring.
6. The administration has no concept of reality when it comes to patient care.
7. People are hired as adminstrators that have no leadership quality what so ever.
8. Time and money are not factors of waste at the VA.
9. The person that works at the front desk in a clinic should be nice to people, all of the time, Some of my
experiences as a veteran have been that this person is normally hostile.
10. It seems that no one ever goes above and beyond the call of duty or to meet the standards, the exception being the patient care staff.
11. Housekeepers cant clean rooms worth a darn in the inpatient settings.
12. Some pharmacists are rude to both nurses and patients at times.
13. Alot of VA nurses have only ever worked at the VA, they have no idea how good they have it, none at all.
and when it comes to being pulled or having a heavy assignment every blue moon, all hell breaks loose.
14. It is sad when the union backs up a nurse who is lazy and has a bad attitude but yet can not be fired.

The GOOD

1. Patients are taken care of for the most part
2. Each hospital has a outpatient pharmacy for the veterans, the wait time is long, but they also deliver via
postal service.
3. They spend alot of money rebuilding things, new computer systems, new equipment