HCA Hospital

U.S.A. Texas

Published

Anyone with experiences about HCA Hospitals in the Houston Area? I accepted a position at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center and wanna have an idea of what i am getting myself into. Thanks.

Thank you for clearing that up for me. I know HCA has a Hospital that begins with the name Methodist, I just wasnt sure if the two had any relation. Do you know if Methodist charleton or methodist Dallas is a good place to work.

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Anyone with experiences about HCA Hospitals in the Houston Area? I accepted a position at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center and wanna have an idea of what i am getting myself into. Thanks.

Clearlake was a bad place to work at in 2003. I am going there for business in 2010 now and it seems reformed. They have got rid of all the stuck up nasty nurses and CNA's that made life horrible for decent people. I would give it a chance. It is good advice to keep your mouth shut and follow orders in the first few month anywhere.

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Specializes in TELE, CVU, ICU.
In my experience, HCA facilities as a general rule are poor places to work.

I do not know about that facility personally, but do mind your Ps and Qs while workng HCA, especially in Texas. Otherwise they may black ball you in GroupOne.

black ball in group one?

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

I had the unfortunate experience of working for HCA in a management capacity for a time and I could tell you horror stories about what I saw and had to put up with in order to get care for patients. Because they are a for profit organization their focus is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, period. They will do anything they can get away with to keep non paying patients out of their facilities and they do not care if they get fined or sued because "that is what we have lawyers for". It is the most unethical organization and I would never be a patient there or work there. I can't even start to describe to you the things that they tried to get me to make the nurses do that were in direct violation of the law in order to keep non paying patients out of the ER. And all the hoops we had to jump through to meet some standard of care because we were told it resulted in better outcomes for the patient when in actuality that was not true. The fact was that if we met the standard, the CEO got a bonus. I almost EXPLODED when I was told this.

I believe that for profit hospitals should be against the law. No one should be making a profit off the backs of sick people.

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In my experience, HCA facilities as a general rule are poor places to work.

I do not know about that facility personally, but do mind your Ps and Qs while workng HCA, especially in Texas. Otherwise they may black ball you in GroupOne.

I worked at an HCA in Texas. Worst experience of my career.

However, every place is different. Just be careful. Watch your back, CYA, and mind your Ps and Qs.

Be friendly, but don't reveal too much about yourself.

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I had the unfortunate experience of working for HCA in a management capacity for a time and I could tell you horror stories about what I saw and had to put up with in order to get care for patients. Because they are a for profit organization their focus is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, period. They will do anything they can get away with to keep non paying patients out of their facilities and they do not care if they get fined or sued because "that is what we have lawyers for". It is the most unethical organization and I would never be a patient there or work there. I can't even start to describe to you the things that they tried to get me to make the nurses do that were in direct violation of the law in order to keep non paying patients out of the ER. And all the hoops we had to jump through to meet some standard of care because we were told it resulted in better outcomes for the patient when in actuality that was not true. The fact was that if we met the standard, the CEO got a bonus. I almost EXPLODED when I was told this.

I believe that for profit hospitals should be against the law. No one should be making a profit off the backs of sick people.

I was a floor nurse @ an HCA facility, not mgmt, but I agree with your opinion of them.

No ethics at all- just a miserable place.

I especially agree with this statement:

I believe that for profit hospitals should be against the law. No one should be making a profit off the backs of sick people.
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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
black ball in group one?

GroupOne is an agency in Texas marketed as a sort of "credit agency", or reference agency.

Many hospitals (especially in Texas and mostly the for profits), check a health care applicant;s history to see if they are flagged in the GroupOne information banks.

While some health care applicants are flagged for good reasons (abuse allegations, theft, fraud), some have been flagged for truly trivial reasons, and thusly may find it very hard to get a job in any facility that checks applicants through GroupOne.

You will find that most HCA hospitals utilize GroupOne, and they also tend to share info, so if you run afoul of management at one, for legitimate or for illegitimate reasons, you may find it much more difficult to find a job in any other of those facilities.

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GroupOne is an agency in Texas marketed as a sort of "credit agency", or reference agency.

Many hospitals (especially in Texas and mostly the for profits), check a health care applicant;s history to see if they are flagged in the GroupOne information banks.

While some health care applicants are flagged for good reasons (abuse allegations, theft, fraud), some have been flagged for truly trivial reasons, and thusly may find it very hard to get a job in any facility that checks applicants through GroupOne.

You will find that most HCA hospitals utilize GroupOne, and they also tend to share info, so if you run afoul of management at one, for legitimate or for illegitimate reasons, you may find it much more difficult to find a job in any other of those facilities.

GroupOne really only applies in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. This is where they are based and cover a 100mi radius outside of DFW. People should not be mislead thinking and fearing this organization is EVERYWHERE in Texas, because it is not. However, there are many facilities in Dallas that are owned by HCA, and therefore, I do believe it is possible that any HCA owned facility will have access to GroupOne reports in Texas. Other facilities in Dallas are part of the DFW Hospital Council and have ties with GroupOne... they're really the "same" organization. GroupOne is just their "PI" dept. :twocents:

Here's a list of facilities in the DFW hospital council... You can bet that anyone on this list will run a check through GroupOne.

http://www.dfwhc.org/about-membership-hospital.html

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

HCA wouldn't just have access to GroupOne in North Texas, if you worked at any of their facilities and had negative reports in your HR file, they would have access to that as well - and rightfully so.

I have worked for a couple of HCA facilities in the past, some better or worse than others, some units within them better or worse than others. I can't classify them all as bad to work in.

One thing I would suggest asking about is the turnover rate. What percentage of the currently employed nurses in that unit have been there for >3 years? Avoid the units who have turned over all but a few of their staff in 3 years - those will be difficult places to work! A strong unit should have a good mix of experienced and new staff. Also avoid the units that have a very high new grad ratio - they hire new grads because people with experience can smell problems and avoid getting hired into that mess. The poor newbies stay 2 years or so and then high tail it to someplace that won't abuse them! (Again resulting in high turnover rates) I would also ask about layoffs - how many people, when they last occurred, and which units were affected.

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I am currently a traveler at an HCA facility in Houston. It's not horrible, but not the best either. I can see where staff get frustrated, but I also can see a pattern of people who hate their jobs, are just unhappy people in general. I have to say I overall have enjoyed my assignment w/ HCA. Management has been helpful, my coworkers are great too. I do have to say though, the majority of my coworkers are travelers or agency as well. HCA is not very organized, which can be frustrating. My orientation was pretty slim, but I was motivated enough to figure my routines out on my own. I can see the culture of a sink or swim atmosphere. I do get frustrated at my job when I am working with those that are unhappy. They focus so much on how unhappy they are, and pt care gets neglected, as well as the whole "team" effort. For those of you who are that unhappy, go get another job. I can't say that HCA is the worst. I have worked in facilities that are not affiliated w/ HCA, that were way worse.

I think your job is what you make of it. Nursing is constantly changing, busy, and chaotic. People are sick. We are there to care for them. If you are too tired to give your best, you should probably not be in nursing. Working hard and being in an unsafe situation is completely different. Do I work hard, yes-very hard. Has my situation been unsafe, no. If you are put in an unsafe situation, then you should protect yourself. It is your license that is on the line. NEVER be afraid to stick up for yourself, and if it is that bad, then do not work for that facility. You can always get another job.

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