Oakwood Hospital-Good or Bad?

U.S.A. Michigan

Published

Hi,

Can anyone who works at Oakwood tell me how it is working there, where you work and how long you've been there? I have had 2 people tell me that it is a horrible place to work (I graduate next May) and the nurses are so mean to each other. This is what THEY heard from a relative and a friend. But when I talked to nurses working in 2 ICU departments at a career fair they seemed very nice, helpful and that they genuinely like their jobs. They had been there at least 5 yrs. Does anyone have any opinions - good or bad? Thanks.

My recent Med-Surg clinical was at Oakwood Main, and while most of the nurses treated the students like gum under their shoes, they were up and at 'em most of the time, in the patients' rooms and providing care. I thought the aides were great......great to us, great to the patients, great at their skills. I thought the patients were really clean, too, and seemed well-cared for.

I wouldn't work there, though, because of the unfriendliness of most of the nursing staff. Student clinicals are a huge recruiting tool for hospitals, and a lot of the nurses are just blowing for the nursing administration to get new nurses in there.

However, the few that were helpful, kind and professional were terrific, and I was sure to tell them so before I left.

Just my 2 cents to add to the fray.

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Specializes in critical care.

Sorry guys I have to say my feelings are hurt a bit. I don't work med surg but, I have to say I have seen none of this filthiness or uncaring nurses. I admit all nurses aren't happy all the time but, I feel like our floor provides great nursing care. I have worked a lot of places- Hurley, Beaumont royal oak, McLaren, Genesys, North Oakland, and Oakwood and genesys are tied for the best. Sure there are bad things, but from say Hurley-life is *peachy*. I am trying to be objective, but I can't help but feel defensive. I love the people I work with-including my manager and I really have had a good experience so please don't write it off. CAT

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Specializes in Trauma/Burn ICU, Neuro ICU.

I have been reading this thread with interest, because I live in the area. I am wondering about the legal implications of writing such damning words on a public forum. This whole thread is shocking, especially if it's all true, but even more so if it's not.

A hospital asking a student to "spy" on the nurses.......that is simply not believable.

Unless you have worked in every unit on every floor, how can you make such broad sweeping statements about the whole hospital?

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The poster wrote about her experience in response to a query from someone else. I think people understand that statements pertain to a certain floor, not the whole hospital.

If a person saw unsanitary practices in a hospital where she works, is she supposed to keep quiet for fear of retribution? Change never occurs when silence prevails.

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Sorry guys I have to say my feelings are hurt a bit. I don't work med surg but, I have to say I have seen none of this filthiness or uncaring nurses. I admit all nurses aren't happy all the time but, I feel like our floor provides great nursing care. I have worked a lot of places- Hurley, Beaumont royal oak, McLaren, Genesys, North Oakland, and Oakwood and genesys are tied for the best. Sure there are bad things, but from say Hurley-life is *peachy*. I am trying to be objective, but I can't help but feel defensive. I love the people I work with-including my manager and I really have had a good experience so please don't write it off. CAT

I have a positive experience with Oakwood Annapolis, from a patient's point of view as well as a nursing student. I had to have emergency surgery there a little over a year ago. I have also done clinical rotations there. I was treated with the best care one could wish for. The staff were very friendly to my family, as well as toward me. I had to take a room in the Ped's ward, as the census was high at that time, and those nurses were like angels to me. I had my "own" nurse who specialized in Med/Surg. She was wonderful, and went out of her way to make sure I was well cared for. The Ped's nurses took care of me, to their abilities, as they were "Pediatric nurses", I was out of there spectrum..but they were positive and called me their big baby..

Every staff member there, was very friendly and caring..my room was clean, and I had a great experience in the new OR as well. I have no complaints at all with them. It might be bad on other floors, or other Oakwood hospitals, but I was treated like gold where I was. I had Potassium going and every time I went for a pre surgery test, the IVAC would beep, no one dared touch it, they called "my nurse" and she would travel around the hospital, where ever my testing was, and correct it, and she did it with a smile.

I thanked them all, and told them they were awesome...

They encouraged me to get well soon, and wished me good luck on my nursing school training...with a few pointers as well.

I just wanted to put in a good word for the nurses who cared for me at Oakwood Annapolis...

I recently had my daughter there too for testing, and the staff there were awesome, from the desk clerk to the X-Ray tech, to the lab tech..they all went out of their way to make my 8 year old feel more comfortable and less scared, as it was her first time getting blood drawn and having a chest x-ray.. They even gave her stuffed bunny an ID bracelet with his name on it...she just thought that was very funny, and it made her less frightened...So, good luck to where ever you choose to work..maybe you could shadow a nurse for a day and see what you think...I might try the same, when I cross that bridge...

Happy New Year every one...

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I think the above story just shows us there is good and bad at every hospital. I am just going to try and sweep my own doorstep when I am a nurse; that is, do MY very best to care for my patients (and any others I encounter) the very best I can and to make my little niche of the hospital the best it can be. I think nursing is a unique profession in that one person can really effect change on their own; we can really be instrumental in making a difference for people. I am humbled by that opportunity, and I hope I am mindful of that my entire career. I hope to be to my patients what rntoben2008's nurse was to her; I hope everyone walks away from me with that experience in their minds. That is how you change people's negative perceptions of a hospital, and that is how you create a reputation of having 'great nurses' on a certain floor. I know I'm a newbie, and full of dreams, but this is the goal I take with me into nursing.

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Oakwood has been a great place for me to work! They offer a career ladder as a way to expand my professional advancement and and unit councils so that our unit can work more closely on projects and scheduling. The BSN completion program has great tuition reimbursement. I think the best part for me has been the friends I ahve made on the unit. They are like my second family!

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I would suggest maybe going to Oakwood Main. Stay away from Oakwood Heritage. I had clinicals there and it was terrible. The nurses were not very nice at all.

I had to post, after all I am doing my Psych clinicals at Heritage and the staff there are terrific. Everyone has a different perception of things and I have learned this in school as well. Someone might say a certain teacher is awesome, and I ended up not very impressed with that teacher at all. On the Mental Health Unit, everyone is very accommodating to the nursing students, and my Instructor works weekends at Heritage and she is great!!

Wishing you the best of luck, as I want to work at Oakwood myself.

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I work at oakwood main in Labor and Delivery and I enjoy working here!

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