Does one have an advantage coming from a “top” hospital?

[wolfgangRN]

Hi awesome human beings (aka nurses),

I am at a point in my life where I’m looking for more work-life balance than experience. I am currently on a job hunt at states that pay higher than where I’m at. I’ve only worked at teaching/high ranking hospitals since graduating from Nursing school. I’ve heard a lot of other nurses say that these facilities are notorious for not paying well/not treating nurses right because it is a “privilege” to work for them, but since I’ve not been anywhere else, I can’t really compare. That being said, I know that being a great nurse is not dependent on what facility you work for.

My question is, is there an advantage in staying employed at a name-brand hospital? Are hiring managers impressed by that at all or does the actual years of experience matter more? Do they look at where one worked last and factor that in deciding whether to hire you or not?

I know for education, it’s the idea that “Harvard/Yale/whatever opens doors” that’s why a lot of people aim for them. I’m wondering if it’s the same for hospitals.

[wolfgangRN]

21 hours ago, klone said:

This is correct.

Hahaha! That is very reassuring!

[wolfgangRN]

Thank you all for your insight! I did like the atmosphere better at the smaller hospital, but as with everything new to me, I tend to overanalyze everything. I don’t have any experience in the other environment which is why I came here. In terms of benefits, etc, I do know which I want, but I wasn’t sure if hospital rankings affected future hiring probability at all. It’s reassuring to see that it is still dependent on the individual and not the past employer name.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

8 hours ago, MunoRN said:

If anything, they can be leery of nurses who have only worked in teaching hospitals, where residents are coming out of the woodwork, these nurses can find the autonomy of a non-teaching hospital to be unsettling, at least at first.

Really? You think having to train the residents is without autonomy? I take it you have not worked with a bunch of 1st year residents who know nothing about the flow of the floor. I would challenge that I have as much, if not more, autonomy than any other nurse. Even though I work at a teaching hospital .

I love working at a big teaching hospital. I see things that some nurse never see in their whole career. I strive to be a better nurse, not just one with "Big Hosp" on my resume.

Generalizations are not accurate, or fair.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

6 minutes ago, mmc51264 said:

Really? You think having to train the residents is without autonomy? I take it you have not worked with a bunch of 1st year residents who know nothing about the flow of the floor. I would challenge that I have as much, if not more, autonomy than any other nurse. Even though I work at a teaching hospital .

I believe PP was referring to the fact that residents are readily available within the building at all times. Outside of teaching hospitals, your physicians are likely at home asleep in the middle of the night when you need to call for orders.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I just don't understand the bashing of those that do work in bigger teaching hospitals.

I have a friend who is graduating in May and looking for jobs at hospitals that I would not work at because of very dangerous staffing and sub par physicians. I would not put my license at risk, or risk harming someone because of things that are out of my control. The best nurse in the world cannot give quality care to pts with a load of 8 pts.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Nobody's bashing teaching hospitals. But when you have residents who need to practice their skills, it means that the nurses rarely get an opportunity to do it. Of course, I'm speaking only of OB, which is my only area of experience, but it's definitely the case that in a teaching hospital, the nurses rarely get a chance to do vag exams, apply a fetal scalp electrode, use a speculum, etc.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

Well that is WAY out of my wheelhouse LOL Ortho nurse here. There is a lot that the orhto residents do in sx or the ED that we don't do on the unit. I have no desire to do that. I am the one teaching them how to place certain order sets, protocols, HUGE on diabetes education. I think each specialty is unique.

[CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN]

I have no idea, and this is off-topic. But my doctor, who is an MD with 10 years experience (family medicine), told me that he interviewed for a job with Cedars-Sinai in California. They offered him 80 thousand dollars a year. An MD with a decade of experience! When he expressed his shock at that salary, they told him “This is one of the best hospitals in the US and we have a line of doctors wanting to work here. Take it or leave it.” (He didn’t take it.) All I have is his word for the story, so I don’t know if he was exaggerating. But when you mentioned being told it’s a privilege to work at XYZ hospital, that’s what I was reminded of.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

It's very political at that level. We just got a new surgeon, that was well established at a teaching hospital not too far (but greater than 100 miles) I heard the story of why he left. He was either going to be in charge or stand still. He wanted to move forward. He has been great for our program. I think we were lucky to get him. I know he did not take a pay cut to come work with us.

[wolfgangRN]

34 minutes ago, mmc51264 said:

I just don't understand the bashing of those that do work in bigger teaching hospitals.

I have a friend who is graduating in May and looking for jobs at hospitals that I would not work at because of very dangerous staffing and sub par physicians. I would not put my license at risk, or risk harming someone because of things that are out of my control. The best nurse in the world cannot give quality care to pts with a load of 8 pts.

I don’t mean for my question to be a bashing of one vs the other. I believe Nursing should be of the highest standard of care no matter where one works...I was just trying to find out if there is any preferential treatment at all for applicants coming from a name-brand hospital vs a lesser known one. I have not ventured out enough to find out for myself. I’ve been a nurse for 8 years but sadly don’t have much variety in terms of employers.

[wolfgangRN]

6 minutes ago, CommunityRNBSN said:

But when you mentioned being told it’s a privilege to work at XYZ hospital, that’s what I was reminded of.

Yes, I’ve seen that happen in my current hospital. I learned a lot, my co-workers are great, but the travelers I’ve met tell us our benefits as full time are crap. I have a chance to transfer to a unit I want to be in, at both hospitals I applied for. The other has a name reputation w/ less benefits, the other does not but has better benefits. I like the atmosphere at both. So it’s more of does having a brand name hospital in my resume a plus, a minus, or does not matter?

[guest769224]

Hey Las Vegas has great nursing pay with a relatively low COL. Made well over 6 figures last year. PM me if you want details.

I worked for a huge level 1 trauma center in Utah years ago and am so over it. I’m content with my community hospitals with a nice pace and happy coworkers now.