Anyone work for a verterans hospital?

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Aug 30, 2008

I do know that all former veterans and currently serving military personnell do receive care there. My Aunt works for one in Ann Arobr,Mi. She is a civilian, (not a nurse). The only difference is that they typically don't provide ER service. They do eveyrthing else like routine outpt appointments, and surgery, follow up care, and ICU/CCU.

towntalker · Aug 30, 2008

the pay in this area is comparable with the civilian hospitals and the benefits are much better,

rn get one month vacation pay

retirement benefits

sick time

lpn get a increasing scale of vacation pay but i am not sure what it is

there opportunities for improving edcuations usually full tution and work can be scheduled around school

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Aug 30, 2008

i worked in a large va hospital for 5 years. these are federally owned and operated facilities. to qualify as a patient a person must have been in military service to the u.s. government, or in some cases, the spouse or family member of a military member. their illness, in many cases, is supposed to be related to their military service in some way, although not having any other medical insurance, i think, will also qualify a veteran for va healthcare. military service was rarely discussed by the patients. many people go to the va hospitals because they do not have the insurance coverage to go to the community hospitals for care. in many cases you are working with poor and indigent people. some are homeless. there is a high incidence of alcohol and drug abuse among vets. and, unless things have changed in the past few years, many are heavy smokers as well. some of the circumstances you will see are extremely sad. consequently, a fair number of social workers and va volunteers are working very hard to find community resources for these patients. there are a lot of va volunteers helping out.

the application process to work at a va hospital takes patience and you will have to undergo an fbi investigation. you must be legally able to work in the u.s. to work there. if you have a green card and are a legal resident of the u.s., you can work there. as a nurse you only need to have a license in any one of the u.s. states, not necessarily the one in which the v.a. is located. the actual land that the v.a. hospital sits on is considered federal land, not state land. so, when you are at a v.a. hospital you are under federal laws and federal protection. you are placed in a salary grade and raises are done automatically along with everyone else in the facility, so it is done fairly. as an employee of a va facility you are a federal employee with all of the benefits, excellent benefits, and there are a good many more than you get working for private facilities. many people love working for the federal government for this reason and stay at these jobs because of that. i recall working with people who had unbelievable accumulations of vacation and sick time. you will find people who have worked for 20 and 30 years at the va hospitals.

as far as the kind of hospital services that are provided, there isn't much difference from any other acute hospital. a good number of the staff are former military, many were nurses or corpsman. many were in the military themselves. i never worked with so many male nurses and orderlies in my life! there was never a problem finding lifting help.while we did occasionally have female patients, it was very, very rare. the patients were almost all male. not all the patients were veterans who were injured in the line of duty. some were family members depending on the rank of the veteran. we had patients with many of the same kind of medical problems that you would see in any acute hospital. one thing that i never quite got over was the incredibly long stays of some of the patients. the va can do this. many patients were homeless and had no where else to go, so they were just kept on as inpatients until their conditions were resolved. the facility also offered many types of assistance to vets so there are people coming into the facility on an outpatient basis for treatment or some type of service. each va hospital is specialized in caring for certain types of patients. i.e. orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, psychiatric care, residential care (ltc care). the one i worked at specialized in orthopedic, neurosurgery and psychiatric care. if we had a patient that needed open heart surgery, the patient was transferred to another va hospital that did that type of surgery--the transfer was done by the va. the hospital i worked in also had a section of domiciles for homeless vets. homeless vets could get a room for the night there in a special wing that was set up for this. almost every va hospital is a research facility with a large group of doctors on staff who are actively engaged in medical research. medical students and residents often make rotations through these hospitals and provide most of the patient care. the research docs only saw patients clinically on a full time basis for a total of 3 or 4 months out of each year. they spent the remainder of their time in their research labs. if you work for a va you can pretty much expect to be involved in some kind of research that will be going on. you may be required to help collect data in some way or another. someone or some department is always involved in some kind of research project. these projects bring money into the facility. i was working in one of the few hospitals in the country that was trialing the spring loaded retractable iv stylets on iv needles long before they came out on the market nationwide as part of a research study.

i think the one thing that overwhelmed me at first was that the patients were never in their rooms. it seemed that as soon as they got their breakfast, they were off and gone. in some cases they would take a bus and go downtown and return later in the day. there were many places in the facility for the patients to go to occupy their time. our hospital had 12 floors. there were a number of different lounges and games rooms where they could "hang out". consequently, you constantly heard patients being paged to return to their rooms all day long. something that many people don't know is that your boss is the u.s. government. as long as you have a nursing license in any one of the 50 united states you are permitted to practice in any va hospital in any state, even if you don't have an active license in that particular state.

Diahni · Aug 31, 2008

hi daytonite:

wow - thanks so much for all the info! i figured there are pluses and minuses. i wonder why it would require a security check any more than the usual cori check all nurses have to get. hmmm, better be careful what i write on allnurses! sounds interesting - i was impressed that this facility in albany is offerring a 5,000. sign on bonus. the reasearch, and benefits, etc. all sound interesting, but it is very sad to think anybody who fought for their country would end up homeless. i guess i won't know the details until i go there. thanks again, allnurses rocks!

diahni

i worked in a large va hospital for 5 years. these are federally owned and operated facilities. to qualify as a patient a person must have been in military service to the u.s. government, or in some cases, the spouse or family member of a military member. their illness, in many cases, is supposed to be related to their military service in some way, although not having any other medical insurance, i think, will also qualify a veteran for va healthcare. military service was rarely discussed by the patients. many people go to the va hospitals because they do not have the insurance coverage to go to the community hospitals for care. in many cases you are working with poor and indigent people. some are homeless. there is a high incidence of alcohol and drug abuse among vets. and, unless things have changed in the past few years, many are heavy smokers as well. some of the circumstances you will see are extremely sad. consequently, a fair number of social workers and va volunteers are working very hard to find community resources for these patients. there are a lot of va volunteers helping out.
the application process to work at a va hospital takes patience and you will have to undergo an fbi investigation. you must be legally able to work in the u.s. to work there. if you have a green card and are a legal resident of the u.s., you can work there. as a nurse you only need to have a license in any one of the u.s. states, not necessarily the one in which the v.a. is located. the actual land that the v.a. hospital sits on is considered federal land, not state land. so, when you are at a v.a. hospital you are under federal laws and federal protection. you are placed in a salary grade and raises are done automatically along with everyone else in the facility, so it is done fairly. as an employee of a va facility you are a federal employee with all of the benefits, excellent benefits, and there are a good many more than you get working for private facilities. many people love working for the federal government for this reason and stay at these jobs because of that. i recall working with people who had unbelievable accumulations of vacation and sick time. you will find people who have worked for 20 and 30 years at the va hospitals.
as far as the kind of hospital services that are provided, there isn't much difference from any other acute hospital. a good number of the staff are former military, many were nurses or corpsman. many were in the military themselves. i never worked with so many male nurses and orderlies in my life! there was never a problem finding lifting help.while we did occasionally have female patients, it was very, very rare. the patients were almost all male. not all the patients were veterans who were injured in the line of duty. some were family members depending on the rank of the veteran. we had patients with many of the same kind of medical problems that you would see in any acute hospital. one thing that i never quite got over was the incredibly long stays of some of the patients. the va can do this. many patients were homeless and had no where else to go, so they were just kept on as inpatients until their conditions were resolved. the facility also offered many types of assistance to vets so there are people coming into the facility on an outpatient basis for treatment or some type of service. each va hospital is specialized in caring for certain types of patients. i.e. orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, psychiatric care, residential care (ltc care). the one i worked at specialized in orthopedic, neurosurgery and psychiatric care. if we had a patient that needed open heart surgery, the patient was transferred to another va hospital that did that type of surgery--the transfer was done by the va. the hospital i worked in also had a section of domiciles for homeless vets. homeless vets could get a room for the night there in a special wing that was set up for this. almost every va hospital is a research facility with a large group of doctors on staff who are actively engaged in medical research. medical students and residents often make rotations through these hospitals and provide most of the patient care. the research docs only saw patients clinically on a full time basis for a total of 3 or 4 months out of each year. they spent the remainder of their time in their research labs. if you work for a va you can pretty much expect to be involved in some kind of research that will be going on. you may be required to help collect data in some way or another. someone or some department is always involved in some kind of research project. these projects bring money into the facility. i was working in one of the few hospitals in the country that was trialing the spring loaded retractable iv stylets on iv needles long before they came out on the market nationwide as part of a research study.
i think the one thing that overwhelmed me at first was that the patients were never in their rooms. it seemed that as soon as they got their breakfast, they were off and gone. in some cases they would take a bus and go downtown and return later in the day. there were many places in the facility for the patients to go to occupy their time. our hospital had 12 floors. there were a number of different lounges and games rooms where they could "hang out". consequently, you constantly heard patients being paged to return to their rooms all day long. something that many people don't know is that your boss is the u.s. government. as long as you have a nursing license in any one of the 50 united states you are permitted to practice in any va hospital in any state, even if you don't have an active license in that particular state.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Aug 31, 2008

I think that if others who have worked at VA hospitals will post here, they will tell similar stories about the vets. The FBI check, I think, is also common. This was before the Oklahoma bombing and 9/11 so security may be even tighter these days. I don't think they'll be checking your posts on allnurses. :chuckle One of my relatives was a Presidential aide and was investigated by every federal agency under the sun including the branch of the military to which they belonged. They never knocked on my door and we had a public history that to this day can be found in news archives.

Lpn2Rn10 · Aug 31, 2008

Hello,

I work at the Danville VA in IL. I have been here for 9years as a Cna but I am also in Nursing School. Since I have been there for so long, if I were to come back here as an Lpn I would not make much more money until I became an RN. Other than that we do get wonderful benefits and pay as long as you have experiance. A grad nurse would not make as much to start out. My advice is to work somewhere else first for aleast a year. Working for the goverment does have ups and downs. Daytonite was right in most aspects.

Kylea · Aug 31, 2008

I am an LPN and am working at a VA facility. I personally am making more here than I was before; this could be due to the fact that I came here from another state. The benefits are fabulous.

A lot of the patients we care for are elderly, however we are seeing an increase in younger men and women as a result of the war in Iraq/Afghanistan. I am not sure, but I think any Veteran may go to a VA facility. Most choose to, because they have much more covered by the VA than a civilian hospital.

There is a large psychiatric population, at least at the VA I work for. Part of this is due to the stress that our service members are subjected to during their enlistment. PTSD is HUGE. TBI's are coming back more and more frequently from overseas.

The background screening is pretty intense, but that is because it is a government job. it would be the same no matter where you went as long as it is government.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

WhoNeedsaShot? · Aug 31, 2008

I am in NS now, and we start clinicals at the VA in November. We all have to have intense background checks, fingerprints, ID cards made up etc. Had to watch a 60 minute orientation video. Anyways, we have already started this process, and its still 3 months before we even go there.

That being said, the VA is where I really desire to work, once I am out of school, and I have heard that it can take several months even up to 6 months to go through the whole process from application to actually being able to go to "work". I am hoping that with my doing clinicals there, that it will cut out some of the paperwork process and I wont have to wait as long. Anyone have any idea on that? Will I have to go through another background check, and everything, or will they just use what is on file?

Thanks

JQ

HM2VikingRN, RN · Aug 31, 2008

Hello,
I work at the Danville VA in IL. I have been here for 9years as a Cna but I am also in Nursing School. Since I have been there for so long, if I were to come back here as an Lpn I would not make much more money until I became an RN. Other than that we do get wonderful benefits and pay as long as you have experiance. A grad nurse would not make as much to start out. My advice is to work somewhere else first for aleast a year. Working for the goverment does have ups and downs. Daytonite was right in most aspects.

Another VISN 23 person. :>>.

This is my first nursing job. I am working MPLS VAMC. Anbsolutely a great place to work. My pay is comparable to ANW/HCMC. Nurses are pampered pets in MPLS. 26 days of vacation for RN's. Daytonite has said it all.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Aug 31, 2008

I am in NS now, and we start clinicals at the VA in November. We all have to have intense background checks, fingerprints, ID cards made up etc. Had to watch a 60 minute orientation video. Anyways, we have already started this process, and its still 3 months before we even go there.
That being said, the VA is where I really desire to work, once I am out of school, and I have heard that it can take several months even up to 6 months to go through the whole process from application to actually being able to go to "work". I am hoping that with my doing clinicals there, that it will cut out some of the paperwork process and I wont have to wait as long. Anyone have any idea on that? Will I have to go through another background check, and everything, or will they just use what is on file?
Thanks
JQ

Couldn't tell you. Since Homeland Security has evolved this may be the way things are done. It took me 4 months from submission of my application to being hired. It took a year for my criminal background check to be completed. The salary was done by a "boarded" process and based upon all the references and salary verification they had received from past employers and you know how former employers won't answer questions other than "yes, she worked for us between this date and that date". All I can say is to remember that this is government and the government moves S-L-O-W. You just have to be patient. My manager explained all of this very thoroughly so that there was no misunderstanding on my part of what was going on. She had been a naval officer for years before retiring and working for the VA.

BensMom · Aug 31, 2008

I have worked at the VAMC in Denver for the past year. I applied after graduation and the entire process took about 4 weeks from sending in my application to being accepted for the job. The boarding process took another week. We are a teaching hospital and all of the residents and interns rotate in and out pretty quickly which can be difficult but it also makes for a very good learning atmosphere. 5 weeks vacation and seperate sick leave are great, as is getting paid for all federal holidays. You can move to other VA or military facilites and still retain your senority. Federal retirement benefits can't be beat either. On the units there is not so much of a push for cost containment as you can get in for profit facilites. Yes, we get some homeless, a fair number of alcoholics and a majority of our patients have PTSD, but the patients are for the most part very thankful for the care recieved and they are also very supportive and watchful of each other. Overall its a great place to work.