palomar medical center-question???

puresass · Oct 24, 2006

if you're planning on living in PB & commuting to escondido everyday you're looking at at least an hour either way if you're anywhere NEAR rush hour (6-9am & 4-630pm). you'd be better off living somewhere in north county.

as far as pay, i don't know about that hospital specifically, but the other hospitals that are in east county (grossmont, alvarado) don't pay any less than those that are more central.

RNmommy · Oct 29, 2006

I agree with the above poster concerning commute. Maybe look at other beach commuities in North County, like Encinitas.

One of my best friends delivered both of her children at Palomar. I found her care to be on the better side of average. I hear that PPH (Palomar-Pomerado Health) is a decent company to work for. I know that they shook up the market about four years ago by giving their nurses a huge pay increase. A friend of mine interviewed there and IIRC she said they offered her about the same pay she was making at another facility in SD.

nurseMeghan · Nov 16, 2006

Don't know much about the facility but they just got 2 awards regarding being one of the best employees in San Diego county. I know there pay is comparable with Childrens' as both just signed new union contracts.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Nov 16, 2006

I was born there many, many moons ago, as were three of my five children. I can say that their OB, NICU and peds units are among the best I've seen anywhere. Granted, this was all a long time ago, but I've never forgotten the great care we received.

You definitely want to live somewhere in North County though......have you thought about the foothill communities, like Poway or Ramona? You'd still have to commute, but it wouldn't be quite as far. There's also Carlsbad and Oceanside if you want to be near the beach, but Carlsbad is horribly expensive and Oceanside is, well, kind of icky.

Good luck!

mstigerlily · Nov 17, 2006

Did my peds clinical at Palomar about 4 years ago and it was a ghost town there, I was there two weeks and I don't think I ever saw more than 4 patients total on the entire floor. Most peds go to Children's, most hospitals don't have peds units anymore.

Palomar is a decent hospital, I have friends who work there. It is union though and I hear their pay is not what you would expect with a union contract minus union dues, etc. You can call and ask about new grad salaries, when I checked four years ago it was around $25/hr, I imagine at least a few bucks more now with an evening differential but I hear that is low too $2.50 I think with no weekend diff.

Children's pays well and has a $4.00 night diff and a weekend diff too ($1.50 last I checked) which is verrrry nice.

I work 30 miles away and commute from Escondido to La Jolla and back and I can get there in about 25 minutes, no traffic but I work nights. When I had to orient on days it took at least an hour in the morning, traffic was hideous.

So without going into the whole story. I am really interested in Peds when I graduate and after alot of research for new grad peds opps. in San Diego, I am down to San diego Children's which I will miss the new grad start date and cant afford to wait until the next one so I found Palomar medical center in escondido that has a peds unit. My questions are first if anyone has experience at this facility? Is it a quality hospital to work for? Also, i still want to live in SD so if i got a job there, i would be making quite a commute I assume. let's say from Pacific beach area- am I crazy to drive that to work? Any thoughts on commute time assume I work nights? And last, because this hospital is inland, will the pay be considerably less than other SD hospitals- anyone know new grad pay here? Thank you sooo much for your input. It is greatly helping my plan my move to SD.

Tanningtulip · Nov 17, 2006

I have very bad memories of that hospital. Granted they were years ago but my experience was not good. I had my third child there and the DR was really mean.He cut me and stiched me up without deadening the site plus he was just hateful to me. It was like I interrupted his coctail hour. Then I took this same baby who had a fever of 104, she was already on antibiotics, and they gave her a 325 mg dose of tylenol. She was two weeks old. I don't know what it's like now but it was awful then.

My son was born at kaiser and I had a great experience there and it's in sanDiego.

eandgsma · Nov 18, 2006

Palomar's Peds unit doesn't get that much traffic (low census). Some of my classmates were supposed to go there for their Peds rotation but were changed due to low/no census. If you want Peds, try Kaiser. I just did my Peds rotation there last month. Also, since you are trying to get into Peds but will miss the new grad at Children's, try getting a job there as an NA now, then you can have a job and already be a part of the system for the next hiring.

-N