Which Phoenix hospital to work for

[ASU_Sdvls]

I am in a dilemma here. As a student living in the eastern part of the US and just graduating from nursing school, I interviewed and was hired by two different hospitals, Thunderbird Samaritan in Glendale AZ and Baywood Heart Hospital in Mesa AZ, into their critical care units.

Both hospitals pay the same rate and are giving the same amount of bonus money. I am just curious as to the reputation of the two facilities and which one I should choose. Unfortunately, I did not do any clinical rotations there so my only experience in seeing the facilities were during the interview process.

To me, the plusses for Thunderbird are that commuting time would be shorter, since I plan to live in Avondale, and that the reputation of the organization is that it is an environment that promotes satisfied employees and patients.

As for the Baywood Heart hospital, it seems that it has a good preceptorship program and that the facility, being new and only 3 years old, has out of this world technology. Also, there would be probably less nurses who have worked there for a long time, so the chance of me being accepted as a new member of the health care team would probably be smoother.

Unfortunately, the heart hospital is in east Mesa and the commute time from Avondale is about a one hour commute each way. However, I will be working only 3 days a week. Also, during the interview process, the nurse recruiter asked whether I would have any qualms dealing with cardiologists with short tempers. Of course I said no but this raised a red flag as to what type of relationship the ICU nurses have with their physician colleagues.

I would just like to hear the opinions of nurses who may be able to help me in choosing which hospital to work for.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

I used to live in Tucson. My grandmother was a pt twice at Thunderbird Samaritan. Except for a CNA that kept calling my grandmother "grannie" and said "I know my job" when I stopped her from taking a B/P on the side where my grandmother had just had a mastectomy, I was impressed with the hospital, the care my grandmother received and the nurses. But not the CNAs.

Good luck to you!

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

Also let me say, it's pretty bad when a recruiter warns you of physican abuse of nurses at the facility. If they want to retain nurses, they need to reign these jerks in.

Definitely a red flag.