best in az

Owain Glyndwr · Dec 18, 2005

what is the best hospital in arizona for rn pay and conditions

And if anyone can narrow that down to best RN pay and conditions in the Phoenix Metro area, I'd be grateful as I'm seriously toying with buying myself out of my contract as soon as I get to AZ. I will be working for Banner but not under contract with them.

Cheers

OG

suzanne4, RN · Dec 19, 2005

My two favorites are St. Josephs right in the center of town, they have everything and I mean every single service that you could possibly want.

The other one is Scottsdale Memorial North on Shea, located in North Scottsdale.

geordiegirl2 · Aug 5, 2006

I was placed at St Joes in Tucson by OGP and truly it hasn't been that bad, it was very different, I was a health visitor back home so you can only imagine the shck to be back on the floor even though I had extensive experience.

I can say from the facilities point of view Carondelet the owner of the hospital went out of there way to welcome the international travellers and they continued that throughout the contract. They arranged welcome breakfasts for us, get together luches, evenings at the theatre and family days for us all at local museums and waterparks. We were never treat like travellers and now i'm out of contract they have made me a great deal to ensure I stay.

During the time with OGP i was on the standard $24 AZ pay but I started at $22 in 2004 and have had an increase each year.

arys1075 · Aug 10, 2006

Anybody here knows about TMC Tucson Medical Centre, is that hospital nice? I'll be working there after visa processing. When is the best time to go there. Thanks

geordiegirl2 · Aug 10, 2006

Anybody here knows about TMC Tucson Medical Centre, is that hospital nice? I'll be working there after visa processing. When is the best time to go there. Thanks

I've heard mixed rreports about TMC, its a very innovative hospital with decent staffing levels and its a teaching hospital(medical), i've heard a lot of patients who didn't like it but i have no first hand experience, i've talked to nurses who liked it and nurses who didn't i'm sure you get that anywhere.

As for the best time to go, from a weather point of view probably winters the best time to arrive as its a little cooler and AZ is fab in the winter, however we arrived in July, middle of monsoon season and survived!!!!! From a work point of view you'd be better to arrive in the summer as all the hospitals are a little quieter as the snowbirds are back on the east coast, winter here are normally very busy as all the snowbirds have their surgeries etc when they're here on top of the normal increase in winter illnesses.

cookielady,rn · Aug 11, 2006

My two favorites are St. Josephs right in the center of town, they have everything and I mean every single service that you could possibly want.
The other one is Scottsdale Memorial North on Shea, located in North Scottsdale.

It's called Scottsdale Healthcare now. I love it there. People treat me like a real person with some intelligence and everyone's welcomed me.

Stay away from TMC unless you're going into ICU or the OR.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Aug 12, 2006

Anybody here knows about TMC Tucson Medical Centre, is that hospital nice? I'll be working there after visa processing. When is the best time to go there. Thanks

I've worked at TMC, done the majority of my clinicals at TMC, and just completed my Critical Care class at TMC. It would be one of the LAST hospitals that I would work at as a nurse. The OR maybe, L&D yes, but I wouldn't even work the ICU. Do you know they have 11 new grads in their ICU??? That's too many! That hospital is a mess. I wouldn't call it innovative by any means, and I would never even venture to say it's staffed appropriately. One of my fellow nurses who does per diem work there said there is great opportunities for overtime because there are so many open shifts.

What floor are you going to work at? Please, please don't say 750's or 850's!

Best time to come here is always after the summer. October is always nice.

geordiegirl2 · Aug 12, 2006

I've worked at TMC, done the majority of my clinicals at TMC, and just completed my Critical Care class at TMC. It would be one of the LAST hospitals that I would work at as a nurse. The OR maybe, L&D yes, but I wouldn't even work the ICU. Do you know they have 11 new grads in their ICU??? That's too many! That hospital is a mess. I wouldn't call it innovative by any means, and I would never even venture to say it's staffed appropriately. One of my fellow nurses who does per diem work there said there is great opportunities for overtime because there are so many open shifts.
What floor are you going to work at? Please, please don't say 750's or 850's!
Best time to come here is always after the summer. October is always nice.

I;m only commenting on what nurses who've worked there have told me aren't they a magnet hospital? if so there must be some committment to innovation and nursing standards.

Their med/surg unit advertises a 1.5 pt ratio after you've worked in the NHS thats fairly good.

I know though what hospitals advertise and what they do can be very different so its much better advice from someone whose actually been there.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Aug 12, 2006

No they're not a magnet hospital! UMC is-not TMC. I did a lot of clinicals there, and they may say 1:5 pt ratio, but the nurses there all had 6 or 7 pts. In addition, there are soooooo many students there. We were practically falling over each other. So to have 6-7 pts, a nursing student, RT student, and all the interns and residents...well, it makes for a very stressful day. Too boot, they were rude and completely overwhelmed. One last thing, if you forget to bring your lunch, you won't be able to eat, because the cafeteria is about a mile away. Seriously, you wouldn't get there, get your food and get back to the floor within your 30 minutes.

And the floors are carpeted. Gross.

geordiegirl2 · Aug 12, 2006

No they're not a magnet hospital! UMC is-not TMC. I did a lot of clinicals there, and they may say 1:5 pt ratio, but the nurses there all had 6 or 7 pts. In addition, there are soooooo many students there. We were practically falling over each other. So to have 6-7 pts, a nursing student, RT student, and all the interns and residents...well, it makes for a very stressful day. Too boot, they were rude and completely overwhelmed. One last thing, if you forget to bring your lunch, you won't be able to eat, because the cafeteria is about a mile away. Seriously, you wouldn't get there, get your food and get back to the floor within your 30 minutes.
And the floors are carpeted. Gross.

I wasn't sure if it was TMC or UMC that had magnet status it does sound a bit chaotic but i have met nurses who were happy there.

The cafeteria issue sounds terrible.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2006

I've never talked to a content or happy TMC nurse. Despite living 10 minutes from TMC - I will not work for them in order to get into their nursing school because I'd have to sign a contract to work for them for 3 years. Be a TMC indentured slave? I think not. I WILL move to another city to get into a nursing program rather than be tied to TMC.

I do know for sure that the ratios there are not the greatest. TMC's Bidshift program gives me the willies. Want an extra shift? Log on and bid like on ebay, how much you require ($) in order to work the shift. The unit manager will look at your profile of experience and decide if s/he accepts your bid. I suppose there could be good aspects to this program, but it does give me the eebie jeebies.

I have heard that there are certain isolated units that are actually good to work at. Not a magnet hospital. UMC is the only magnet hospital in Tucson. I'd work at UMC.

Oh yes, and the carpeted units. Only a hospital administration that ignores nursing would install completely carpeted units.

GAG :barf02: