Maxim Healthcare Company

regarding recent comments by lamazeteacher and caliotter3 about pay --- I agree totally with both your comments! I think there must be a lot of non-assertive nurses lamazeteacher!! Yes, we need to bring back assertiveness training! It often seemed like I was the ONLY person to speak up about problems - whether pay related or related to scheduling or nursing issues. Like you caliotter3, I was treated like a problem child or like I was just plain rude when I did speak up about something!!! And I am NOT a "complainer"...I only speak up if it is something legitimate.

When I was thinking about starting at Maxim I asked the pay rate and the male director seemed surprised that I even asked. After working there for awhile, I inquired about a pay increase (my expectations were low - maybe 25 or 50 cents more an hour would be nice) and I was given a rather patronizing, circular speech by the same male director. Among other things, he said nurses made low pay until the 1980's when the nursing shortage hit and then pay scales went up, and he said now nurses expect way to much pay and are demanding. Seriously!! Annoying thing is I know the neighborhood this director lives in - the homes go for 500,000 to 700,000 and in this area of the south that buys a VERY nice home! Deny me a 50 cent raise when you live in luxury.

Maxim is a good ole boys club - the management is mostly men, and they like to boss females around and if you speak up about legitimate problems - they will only patronize you or worse...

Boy, if one had tried that with me. . . what an @ss. His theory is not true in my experience. Wages have gone up with inflation just like the cost of living. In fairness, I must say that I did get a raise from one of the managers without asking, and he was a very nice guy. But generally, they don't give raises.

Seeing 18 HH patients in one day is just dangerous! Unless they're mothers/babies' visits. I did that once and swore never to do it again. The charting was extremely short, and took several days to complete. Thankfully I didn't have to draw more than 2 bilis, and no one had serious pp complications, and most breastfeeding moms hadn't their milk in yet (at 1-2 days pp). I finished the last visit at 9 P.M. My throat was dry, my muscles ached (especially the smiling ones), and I knew that I couldn't have given anyone all the education that was needed.

Any agency that expects you to make 10 visits/day isn't interested in good care, and deserves to lose nurses!!