Delray Medical Center

Critterpuss · Mar 22, 2007

Among Nurses who have worked there it is commonly called "Hellray"

Nuff said.

mamalle · Mar 22, 2007

havent heard too many good things about them. cant really say there is one hospital though in palm beach county that I would recommend..

NurseguyFL · Mar 25, 2007

STAY AWAY FROM THAT PLACE!!!! It has a terrible reputation. I got that firsthand from a very close friend who used to work there.

winnievanurse · Mar 26, 2007

hellray is correct. im currently on assignment there and have been counting down since day one. i would not consider hellray for employment, especially for a new grad! that is unless of course you want to loose your license. ratios are 1:8 nights on telemetry and 1:6 on days. not so great! it is terribly unorganized and unsafe. do yourself a favor and keep looking!!!!

LadyNASDAQ · Mar 27, 2007

I understand the hospital has changed and that the working conditions have improved. I worked there years ago and was a travel Nurse. Here and there I floated and was amazed at what the travel nurses were complaining about. Many were primadonnas refusing to float med surg because they were "ICU" Nurses only and wouldn't float to Tele either.

This is what the term "Hell ray" was used for. Unfortunately, the hospital got a bad rap. It's actually a newly renovated facility that has been updated and upgraded. Their clientele are older folks that live nearby with some being snowbirds from mainly the Northeast.

I worked there for 26 weeks. I very much like the facility and I feel they will offer you everything you've seen but a lot more because they will make available something special. A chance to upgrade yourself be it work in ICU,OR or anyplace else that they have with a great crew.

I believe that you will see that it is an excellent facility for growth and even if you're there for a few years, it will give you that extra info to carry with you wherever you go.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2007

hellray is correct. im currently on assignment there and have been counting down since day one. i would not consider hellray for employment, especially for a new grad! that is unless of course you want to loose your license. ratios are 1:8 nights on telemetry and 1:6 on days. not so great! it is terribly unorganized and unsafe. do yourself a favor and keep looking!!!!

Must agree with this being the dominant opinion among every traveler nurse, that I know that has been there - a good seven. Also known as "deathray" beach. These were very experenced MS nurses.

Another issue to be aware of in the West Palm/Boca Raton area facilities. Several of the area hospitals aggressively seeking staff/travelers have serious issues with them. There are a great deal of very "privileged" individuals living in the area...many retirees that have money, have been catered to, and have no patience or tolerance for waiting whatsoever. As a nurse in this area, I have been treated the WORST in my life. Given that I got held up at gunpoint while working in a liquor store/bar, that says a lot. I have worked as a nurse in over 15 facilities( several in Florida) and in 6 different East coast states. Many of the patients (families and general population at large) are among the wealthiest, rudest, most poorly mannered that I have ever dealt with. The facilities are beautiful, but they micromanage for customer service (RN phone numbers on the patient board, with numerous visitor calls to the nurse - beepers and phone, mandatory scripting) and yet are slack on medical issues. You spend more time on the phone trying to get a diet change, clarify unreadible orders and trying to get the MDs to do the required DC paperwork than actually caring for the sick.

Many of the MS patients are not that sick, but they can be miserable to deal with.

I like working with patients and clients, not customers. If I wanted to be scripted, I would work for WDW. If I wanted to be a glorified customer service handmaiden, kissing up to "the privileged", I wouldn't be a nurse.

I would rather been caring for drug addicts in inner city Philly in the midst of Winter, than deal with the patients down here.

While I am sure that there are pleasant retirees here somewhere, they rarely manage to make up for the abundance of extremely difficult ones.

Carolina ( a native Floridian from "old" Florida)

NurseguyFL · Mar 27, 2007

Although I never personally worked at Delray, I've done registry at most of the other hospitals in Palm Beach county, and from my experience (and what I hear from other nurses), the issues mentioned in Carolina's post are dead on. The friend of mine who used to work at Delray was working in the ER there for several years until she had to quit in 2005, again, for some of the same reasons mentioned in Carolina's post. Some of the PBC hospitals are better than others, even among the ones owned by both Tenet and HCA. West Boca and Columbia are among the better ones, but even in these, there are some units/floors that I would not recommend. I did a couple a med surg shifts at Columbia and would never work there again, but their ICU/CCU is ok. Bethesda is a hit or miss, depending on which floor you are working on (I do not recommend their ICU), and JFK is definitely on my stay-away list.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2007

Another issue that may not be as obvious.

It is quite expensive to live in the WPB area. One of the publicized issues with staffing here (beyond what has already been detailed) is that nurses just can't afford to live here on their wages. Rents at my assignment area were as expensive as Baltimore, for an apartment that was not nearly as nice. But I guarantee the pay rates are not nearly as high as Baltimore's.

Pay rates in Florida are poor across the board. But cost of living here is quite high comparatively speaking. I could actually live cheaper in Miami, and commute, though I95 is daunting (not nearly as bad as I4 in Orlando).

bsm03d · Mar 31, 2007

im doing my preceptorship, along with a few of my classmates we are all in different ICU's and so far everyone has loved it there. But thats in ICU i dont know much abou the other floors..

they offer good new grad orientations from what i hear along with decent sign on bonuses for ICU areas. most nurses in my area seem pretty happy.

Pompom · Apr 7, 2007

I had the unfortunate experience of working at Delray Medical Center back in 1995, it was by far the worst experience of anyplace I have ever worked. Short staffed, no support from management, unbelievably rude patients and doctors, lack of necessary supplies, ridiclious patient ratios, no ancillary staff to assist, I could go on and on but you get the picture.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Apr 7, 2007

no support from management, unbelievably rude patients and doctors,

That seems to be the issue with most WPB area facilities. Very "entitled" clientele