Christiana Wilmington vs. St. Francis

[KristinWW]

Which do you prefer? Does it depend on the department? And what in the world is the D/M or D/E in terms of scheduling at Christiana????

[bill4745, RN]

It's been many years since I worked there, but D/E was 7am-3pm/3pm-11pm rotation. You would work 50%or more on 7-3.

D/M was 7am-3pm/11pm-7am rotation. "M" stands for "Mornings" - a nice way to say 'nightshift'.

When I was there, working Monday morning meant coming in Sunday night at 11pm, not Monday 11pm.

Christiana is a large, 1,000+bed hospital, level one trauma, in the suburbs right off I95. St Francis is a small, Catholic, community hospital, right in the city. Worked at both, but over 10 years ago. People I speak to now seem much happier at Christiana. On the other hand, a short drive up I95 into Delware County PA offers much higher salaries and benefits from the community hospitals that are competing with the Philadelphia hospitals for RNs. Let me know if you want more info - that's wher I work now.

[KristinWW]

Bill, I work in DE County now as well. I was told the benefits are comparable, and both Chris and St. F will match my salary.

Going back to the D/E, D/M thing - are 12-hour shifts not possible? Can you do double shifts?

[bill4745, RN]

Again, it's been many years since I worked at either. You need to get up-to-date info from the hospitals. They may have gone to 12 hour shifts since then.

Where in DE county do you work?

[jodyangel, RN]

Hey Bill,

When you say a short drive..how short do you mean. I live in South Jersey and am looking into getting a job at Christiana Care, but the sound of a better salary has me interested...share!! What hospitals do You recommend?

[ktwlpn, LPN]

I have been a patient in both and from that side of the stethoscope I really was more comfortable at St.Francis.It is smaller and older then Christiana but from the minute we hit the front door we felt the difference in the atmosphere. All of the staff at St Francis appeared to be very content.Everyone from the receptionist to the radiology staff and floor nurses were very positive and seemed to really care about their jobs and doing them well.......The same can not be said about my dealings with Christiana.The staff all seemed very harried and "bothered" when approached from the front door to the floor.Almost everyone looked a bit burned out...You can tell when staffing is an issue-you can see it one their faces.Things may be better now at Christiana -it's been a few years since my interactions there but this is what I have observed.