anyone worked at ASH before? adult or CAPS?

[MissBrahmsRN]

looking to chat with anyone who's worked/working at Austin State Hospital. i've called them directly but they won't tell me anything without me coming in and i'm not quite ready for that yet, need to get my resume in order, decide if i am ready to take the leap.. i'm rapidly tiring of doing critical care nursing for the large profit driven hospital systems (the not for profs sometimes even seem worse than the for-profit ones) who dont care about the patients and constantly cry for money even though they pay their CEO large 6 figure bonuses..while the benefits for the oompa-loompas suck.

info i'm looking for: state of Tx benefits (tried google for half hour nothing specific came up)

how hard is it to get into CAPS? should i work at a inpatient peds critical care unit first so i have peds experience to bring to psych? (i work adult critical care currently)

do they have set schedules like the rumors say? 8 hr shifts or 12s? i did a rotation at ASH and enjoyed it very much, i know it's a pay cut but it's not about the money..even though it is for my current employer.

the good the bad the ugly..thanks for reading.

[m&mRN]

I worked at ASH on the Specialty Services units-- 8 hour shifts, state benefits/holidays are excellent. The downside of 8's is working 5 days/week and alternating weekends, but it's nice to get home at 3:30. I would say it's a pretty easy place to work if you can communicate well and deal with the patients. Staff comes and goes pretty quickly--just the nature of the beast. Pay isn't terrible--starting around $23-ish, but salaried, not hourly pay.

[oldladyRN]

I also worked @ ASH. The pay is as good as anywhere else, and you get out of work on time. The benefits are excellent. I worked with adults and would never have dreamed of working on CAPS. In my opinion, there were a lot of kids there that suffered from ADD (Absence of Discipline Disorder) and needed a more direct hand at home. I never had any problems with staffing. They have a float pool...basically a group of people that comes to work every day to fill in the holes where people have called in. I thought it was a whole lot easier than working med/surg, the ER...you name it. Hope that helps.

[MissBrahmsRN]

wow you guys, thanks so much for responding. right now i work 3 12s and i adore my patients but the stress level is so high at work all the time and when you are between shifts you feel like the clock is still running, hurry up get home (if you havent been so busy that your charting is done), shower, eat, sleep, get up eat go to work, no time to "veg" very much til the work week is over. you spend your first day off recovering from the work week...ya'll know what i'm talking bout :nuke:

i wonder if 8s would be better, i would have to go to work more days but there would be more downtime between shifts... if i ever decide to cut my hours does ASH offer part-time or only 40s? i gained a whole new perspective during my rotation there..i know pysch nursing is a whole new ball of wax that will be difficult too...i've read several of the threads here and i realize i have so much to learn..