Best St. Louis hospitals to work at?

[wdstck]

Just want to add my 2 cents. I have been a nurse for about 15 years. I worked for SSM and Barnes for the majority of my nursing career and absolutely loved both places. I wokred at St. Anthony's for about 6 months, and it was the worst experience of my nursing career. They claim to be a ctholic organization, but treat their employees like second class citizens. They either fire people right and left or people quit. That's why they have so many openings all the time. I have known really excellent nurses that have been fired for speaking up and complaining about something as important as unsafe conditions for patients. One nurse actually injected a medication into a ventriculostomy tube and killed a person, and she was promoted to charge nurse in the cardio-thoracic ICU. How sad!!! As far as the cvicu at St. Anthony's, it's horrible. I wouldn't take a dead dog there to have surgery. One surgeon has a 70% mortality rate for his patients. AND, his patients are not the sickest of the sick. One night 4 open hearts died. It is really sad that they are even allowed to still have and open-heart program. The one positive things I can say about St. A's is that I loved the nurses that I worked with. they all had a lot of heart and really cared about their patients. They also always worked well as a team. So NEW GRADS, go elsewhere. If you don't want the big hospital like Barnes, go to St. Mary's in Clayton. It is small enough to not feel overwhelmed but large enough to see and do a lot. Barnes really is a great institution. You will see things there that you won't see anywhere else. For those of you that didn't like them b/c they seem to have an arrogance about them, they should. They are very good at what they do. However, sometimes the patients seem to be looked at as a number, b/c they have so many. Good luck in choosing the right place to make a career.

jls189,

Sorry you had a negative experience working in the CVICU at St. Anthony's. I started working in that unit in October and things are MUCH different. We have a new nurse manager who is FANTASTIC...highly encourages shared governance, advocates for her nurses and is professional, as well as personable. Our unit has been remodeled and is now on the 2nd floor right off the OR and there are only eight beds. Several new hires have joined us and have become great assets to the unit, providing a spectrum of experience. My preceptor nurse is GREAT! She has struck a nice balance of encouraging autonomy and teaching. My experience thus far has been very comfortable...I enjoy being there. We have an awesome team, both days and nights. I came from Mercy (formerly St. John's)... also a great place. I worked in the cardiac surgical stepdown unit and I was being held back from moving to their CVICU (at the same time they hired three new grads!! ....ouch), so that is why I left. ...and by the way, one of the surgeons at St. Anthony's performed my open heart surgery ...clearly, I made it. I'll certainly allow him to do the next one. Hope all is well for you :-)

[TeleRN44]

I work for one of BJC's 13 hospitals. As a new nurse, all I can say is awful.

My nurse manager bullies and threatens to the point where morale on my floor is a joke and the staff is busy throwing each other under the bus in an effort to save themselves. Everyone has been written up or has been threatened with a write up...regardless of whether it is in line with facility policy. Nice atmosphere to work in, let me tell you.

If you're interested in the name of the facility (so you can maintain a WIDE berth)...send a PM.