Experience in VA hospitals?

caliotter3 · May 20, 2010

An acquaintance from school got her first job as an LPN at a VA hospital and I distinctly remember her stating that it was the best job she ever had.

michael22 · May 20, 2010

Hi, I use to work at the VA in Phoenix as a lab tech before moving out of state and going to nursing school. I have been looking for work and applying to several VA hospitals across the country, now that I am a nurse. I definitely want to get back in. The pay varies from city to city with some adjustment in pay. Some jobs do not pay enough to live in particular cities. This does not make much sense to me. An example would be southern California, the pay seems to be quite low compared to the cost of living their. Where northern california seems to pay significantly more. If you are completely open you could start at a rural hospital, work for two years and take an internal transfer to a more desirable location. My friends in Government tell me the benefits are easily equal to $40,000 a year, outside of your hourly pay. One nurse told me they pay for your MSN and she knew of two such people the VA put through CRNA school and NP school. They got a portion of their salary while going to school full time, with a commitment to work at the VA for ? amount of years afterwards. The down side, I experienced, the VA does not fire people who are not good workers and those who call in sick chronically, thus we worked short I would say 3 out of 5 days a week, due to medical leaves and people being out sick all the time. One nurse did tell me she worked with a lot of slackers. The VA has their own rules and regulations and I cant began to tell you the stuff they had me doing that would never have been allowed in an outside hospital. So there are good and bad things to consider. I check the web site every 3-7 days for new postings. You can google their GS-wage scale, but it is very confusing at best. Good Luck.

JanielleRN · May 20, 2010

My mom has worked for the VA for 20++ years and she loves it. My mom told me that when you work for the VA, you are not required to get licensed in a new state because they accept licenses from any state in the U.S. Benefits are great! You start with 3 or 4 weeks of vacation. I also had a clinical rotation at the VA and they have the best computer system I have ever had the pleasure of using. The only thing negative that may come with working in the VA is that you don't work with a very diverse population; however, working with veterans is a very rewarding experience. I don't think you can go wrong with working in the VA. Good luck job hunting! :nurse:

lkwashington · May 20, 2010

I work in VA. With every job you have disadvantages and advantages. Overall, I cant complain. You have 2 big teaching hospitals UVA and VCU health systems, Bon Secours Hospital, HCA Hospitals, CHS Hospitals, and Sentara Hospitals. I would advise you took look online and do research on the facilities. A new HCA hospital is opening next month named Spotsylvania Medical Center. Good luck.

TravelinCEN · May 20, 2010

When I was a senior in nursing school, and students were heavily recruited, I was entertaining the idea of going to work at the VA. I confided in my management professor who told me that it going to work at the VA would ruin my career. I almost laughed off her advice, but I did consider it. Meanwhile, I was wooed with the time off, holidays, sick leave, pay and promises of loan reimbursement. I took the job.

I survived there for over 5 years, and realized that indeed, I should have listened to my professor. I will say, I learned a great deal. I gained experience that I would have never gotten anywhere else.

However, I also witnessed patients being abuse physically and verbally. Each incident was reported, but the culture never changed. The lateral violence was oppressive, and despite superficial intents to improve the conditions, the violence persists and culture remains. There is little impetus for the average nurse to change because there are few rewards and few punishments.

One of the largest problems that the VA has, in my humble opinion, is their clinical ladder. Don't get me wrong, I think defining a clear way for career advancement is empowering and typically yields great results. But, there are critical flaws i.e. several management positions at the VA require that the nurse have a masters degree, although the type of degree is not specified. So, they typical Unit Director/Manager has a masters degree, but typically it is a practitioner degree.

Practitioners have their place in delivering health care to our nation's veterans. But, it is not in management. These nurses went to school to become practitioners, not managers. Unfortunately, they lack skills in basic human resources, conflict resolution and staff development. They are even more ill equipped to deal with precious financial resources. This lack of education and training enables the poor work environment to persist.

I do not mean to slam all of the VA. There are several wonderful nurses at the VA. But, what I would say is that there are more problems than what the job is worth. Our nation's veterans are my favorite patient population, even to this day. Unfortunately, I do feel like I wasted the first 5 years of my career. And in good conscious, I could never suggest any nurse go to work at the VA.

And FYI- in all the time I worked there, I never met a nurse who received one penny for loan reimbursement although it is one of the biggest recruitment tools.

For what it's worth, good luck.

If I have offended anyone, please tell me I'm wrong. I still struggle with sleeping at night knowing what I know about how some of our nations veterans are treated. Any rants that I receive may help me sleep better.

michael22 · May 20, 2010

thank you for your honest input, I appreciate it

gatorRN97 · May 20, 2010

I also work at the VA, in Florida. I started working here right after graduation, and I started out with better than base pay, as I had interned at the same hospital as a student, so I was given an extra "step" on their pay scale because of this. In addition, like previous posters have mentioned, the benefits are outstanding. I get 8 hours of annual leave, and 4 hours of sick leave every 2 weeks. Their health/dental insurance is pretty good too, and is reasonably priced. The patient population is obviously skewed greatly, as you are 95% percent working with male geriatrics, but overall I've really enjoyed my time here. I haven't experienced any "abuse" of the patients as the poster prior to me mentioned, but then again I'm in a completely different hospital, so obviously each hospital is different. The staff here are very welcoming, and I was given a very long orientation, with their newly developed "RN Residency Program" for new graduates. It's a support system that is a year long, with classes to refresh your memory in critical care areas that you may not have remembered in detail from school (for those of us who were hired into the ICUs). The charge nurses are very good at giving me the hardest patients, so as to challenge myself and to learn, and I can say that I have learned very much since working here, and it has helped my confidence as a nurse as well. Overall, I would highly recommend looking into a position at the VA, as it clearly has more benefits than not, in my opinion. Good luck! :)

StayLost, BSN, RN · May 20, 2010

I worked in an Arizona VA for years as a Student Nurse Tech. Sure, the benefits are really great, but believe me they come at a big price.

Do you know how many new nurses started on the ortho floor I worked on saying, "I'm an ICU nurse with X amount of years of experience. They hired me on here but there is an ICU position opening for me in a few weeks". With no intention of hiring this nurse to the ICU that same week they'll hire 3 ICU nurses. This is SO COMMON! I have heard some nurses getting put in geri-psych with the same circumstances, and they are still there to this day. I just don't think that's right to be lied & deceived.

Moving up in the VA has little to do with your academic & clinical accomplishments. It's based on deep are you in with the click-ish administration. My manager would act like she would like you and be the first to throw you under the bus.

I could go on & on because there are so many reasons why I would never work in the VA again. When I graduated to nursing school I moved to a different state. When looking for a job people would ask, "why don't you get a job at the VA. You worked there for a long time." That is exactly why-- I saw how the system is, and it's not for me. Beyond the work part, I felt bad for patients. I feel like they are not getting the same level of care as if they would if admitted to a civilian hospital. I would be very concerned if a loved one was on the unit I used to work on.

I am sure that others have had a great experience. This is just my experience.

RN1980 · May 20, 2010

take this from someone who has never worked in a va..if there was one in my hometown or adjacent to it i'd be applying there right now in person.

sassyred_rn · May 20, 2010

When I was a senior in nursing school, and students were heavily recruited, I was entertaining the idea of going to work at the VA. I confided in my management professor who told me that it going to work at the VA would ruin my career. I almost laughed off her advice, but I did consider it. Meanwhile, I was wooed with the time off, holidays, sick leave, pay and promises of loan reimbursement. I took the job.
I survived there for over 5 years, and realized that indeed, I should have listened to my professor. I will say, I learned a great deal. I gained experience that I would have never gotten anywhere else.
However, I also witnessed patients being abuse physically and verbally. Each incident was reported, but the culture never changed. The lateral violence was oppressive, and despite superficial intents to improve the conditions, the violence persists and culture remains. There is little impetus for the average nurse to change because there are few rewards and few punishments.
One of the largest problems that the VA has, in my humble opinion, is their clinical ladder. Don't get me wrong, I think defining a clear way for career advancement is empowering and typically yields great results. But, there are critical flaws i.e. several management positions at the VA require that the nurse have a masters degree, although the type of degree is not specified. So, they typical Unit Director/Manager has a masters degree, but typically it is a practitioner degree.
Practitioners have their place in delivering health care to our nation's veterans. But, it is not in management. These nurses went to school to become practitioners, not managers. Unfortunately, they lack skills in basic human resources, conflict resolution and staff development. They are even more ill equipped to deal with precious financial resources. This lack of education and training enables the poor work environment to persist.
I do not mean to slam all of the VA. There are several wonderful nurses at the VA. But, what I would say is that there are more problems than what the job is worth. Our nation's veterans are my favorite patient population, even to this day. Unfortunately, I do feel like I wasted the first 5 years of my career. And in good conscious, I could never suggest any nurse go to work at the VA.
And FYI- in all the time I worked there, I never met a nurse who received one penny for loan reimbursement although it is one of the biggest recruitment tools.
For what it's worth, good luck.
If I have offended anyone, please tell me I'm wrong. I still struggle with sleeping at night knowing what I know about how some of our nations veterans are treated. Any rants that I receive may help me sleep better.

As a wife of a VET and an RN, I have to sadly agree. My husband is in end stage liver disease with an EF of only 15%. I brought him to the ER due to continued abd pain. I never told anyone that I was an RN. I would come in to see infusions, i.e., asked why he was getting K+ infusion, was his K+ low? His nurse said "I don't know"....meds were left in his bedside drawer because he wasn't in the room (getting a procedure), was given digoxin (dbl the rx dose!), even tho I gave a detailed list to the ER nurse for med reconcilliation and specifcally stated he was not taking it due to syncope when combined with his other BP medications!!

He was on a monitor and left the floor for a procedure, back on the floor for hours before his monitor was reconnected (only when I brought it to the RN's attention) and his nurse said, "I didn't know he was back!" He would call me and I would listen to the staff take his VS. They were rude, short in answer and very ill informed of his condition. I asked for toothpaste and was told, "I'm not sure we have any, unless volunteers brought some in." The food was horrible, bed linens weren't changed unless I did it, etc....

When I finally went to the advocate, he pulled up his chart (via computer) and stated, "the RN charts that he's been a difficult pt, argumentive and noncompliant!" It was "documented" as such so regardless of the fact that I was there the majority of the time and NEVER saw him be rude (he knows what I've gone through and has a great appreciation for our profession), was compliant with tx, etc...it didn't matter...because "that's what the RN documented."

This was only in 2 days. I packed his belongings, told the RN we were leaving AMA and took him to the hospital I worked at (15 mns from home vs an hour to the VA). They dx him with cholysystitis, placed a drain (unable to even do a lap choley) due to excess fluid, etc......There is so much more to this...sutures that should have been removed (the VA wouldn't approve it unless it was done there and by the time they got him in, the sutures were popping and the drain was misplaced!) He almost died, and we are faced with a 40,000 bill because the VA won't "approve" him going to another hospital!!!!!

Our vets? Served our country, put their lives on the line, suffered and saw things we can't even imagine? This is how they are treated. Would I work there? I would be fired in one day.

caliotter3 · May 21, 2010

When I was a senior in nursing school, and students were heavily recruited, I was entertaining the idea of going to work at the VA. I confided in my management professor who told me that it going to work at the VA would ruin my career. I almost laughed off her advice, but I did consider it. Meanwhile, I was wooed with the time off, holidays, sick leave, pay and promises of loan reimbursement. I took the job.
I survived there for over 5 years, and realized that indeed, I should have listened to my professor. I will say, I learned a great deal. I gained experience that I would have never gotten anywhere else.
However, I also witnessed patients being abuse physically and verbally. Each incident was reported, but the culture never changed. The lateral violence was oppressive, and despite superficial intents to improve the conditions, the violence persists and culture remains. There is little impetus for the average nurse to change because there are few rewards and few punishments.
One of the largest problems that the VA has, in my humble opinion, is their clinical ladder. Don't get me wrong, I think defining a clear way for career advancement is empowering and typically yields great results. But, there are critical flaws i.e. several management positions at the VA require that the nurse have a masters degree, although the type of degree is not specified. So, they typical Unit Director/Manager has a masters degree, but typically it is a practitioner degree.
Practitioners have their place in delivering health care to our nation's veterans. But, it is not in management. These nurses went to school to become practitioners, not managers. Unfortunately, they lack skills in basic human resources, conflict resolution and staff development. They are even more ill equipped to deal with precious financial resources. This lack of education and training enables the poor work environment to persist.
I do not mean to slam all of the VA. There are several wonderful nurses at the VA. But, what I would say is that there are more problems than what the job is worth. Our nation's veterans are my favorite patient population, even to this day. Unfortunately, I do feel like I wasted the first 5 years of my career. And in good conscious, I could never suggest any nurse go to work at the VA.
And FYI- in all the time I worked there, I never met a nurse who received one penny for loan reimbursement although it is one of the biggest recruitment tools.
For what it's worth, good luck.
If I have offended anyone, please tell me I'm wrong. I still struggle with sleeping at night knowing what I know about how some of our nations veterans are treated. Any rants that I receive may help me sleep better.

Well, the truth is the truth. I can see no reason for you to come on this site and make this stuff up. If you witnessed it, it happened, I am sure. Makes one sad to think about this.