HCR Manor Care Facilities

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jan 8, 2007

Back in May 2006, I worked at one of the several HCR Manor Care nursing homes in Fort Worth, Texas. My employment was short-lived with this company, lasting 1 week before I decided to quit. In my area, their LTC units have good reputations, whereas their rehab units have bad reputations and high employee turnover rates.

I worked their rehab unit. The unit manager promised that I would receive 6 weeks of training and plenty of support. However, I received 2 days of training before being cut loose.

HCR Manor Care has the benefits of being part of a major corporation such as good health insurance, perks, and paid holidays. If you decide to work for them, do not work their rehab units. Strictly tell them that you want to work LTC only. Good luck, and I hope you find your niche.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2007

the one i worked at was in the midwest. it was a very nice facility. i was told that the company was originally started by a man who was very compassionate about the care that the elderly got. he named his facilities manor care. he subsequently sold the chain of facilities to a corporation. the rumor i heard from the people in the facility where i worked was that he started up another group of nursing homes under the name of heartland. i cannot tell you if these were the same corporate owners that you are encountering today because i believe this company may have been resold.

you have to understand that any facility, even if it is corporately owned, is only going to be as pleasant to work in as the personalities and characters of the people who are currently employed there. i quit after a week or two at quite a number of places that turned out to be dogs. the best job i ever had lasted 8 years and it was because i was working with terrific nurses. the administration, however, stunk and was in turmoil and eventually one of the major tv network news programs did a segment on the shenanigans going on there on one of their national new magazine programs! :smackingf nothing is ever going to be perfect. you might try going to a psychic for a reading to see what future job is going to work out for you. :lol2:

seriously, question the don very carefully at your employment interview. bring up problems you've had in the past and see how he/she answers your concerns about those problems. the don is going to be the "go to" person if you discover those same problems or new ones at another job. and, if you think you are not going to be able to work with him/her then don't take a job there. keep in mind that an employment interview works both ways. you are evaluating them as much as they are evaluating you. let them know you expect support and fairness and won't tolerate less, but do it nicely. if you come across as being too overwhelming you may botch your opportunity. if they like you and your ideals, you'll get a job offer. if they see that kind of attitude and frankness as a problem, then you won't be hearing from them and you won't be wasting your time starting an orientation with them. my experience, and understand this is totally subjective, has been very good in ltc facilities that were owned and managed by religious organizations who were closely involved in the day to day running and care given to the residents.

http://www.hospitalsoup.com/employerquestions.asp - questions for nurses to ask employers during interviews. this is just a start. as you think of questions, add them to the list and take the list with you to an interview!

bellcollector · Jan 9, 2007

It certainly didn't take me long to discover I have once again made a HUGE mistake. My understanding is that Manor care bought heartland and became HCR Manor Care. I don't know if the problems I am facing are corporate wide or just at this particular facility. I had two interviews that went very well. I asked all the appropriate questions and they responded with all the appropriate answers. By the way they talked and acted I honestly thought I had stumbled into one of those extremely rare facilities that is actually almost heaven on earth for the residents and therefore for the employees. It only took one day of orientation to find out that all was not what it appeared. Obviously I can't go into details for fear of being found out should any of them read here, but boy do I want too. Sufice it to say that this is the 4th place all LTC that I have worked at through out my career I have not been particularly impressed with any of them. This one though takes the cake. I truly do have a soft spot for geriatrics but I absolutley can not stand it. I am so unbelievabley disillusioned. Not one single shift leaves work earlier than two hours past when their shift should be over. Absolutley none of management takes call ever. The floor nurses are required to take call on a rotating schedule. There is no extra pay for this and it is not in the job description. The staff is verbally abused and constantly threatened and intimidated by management. I have just never seen anything like it. As it is not a union facility we were given a hotline # to call if we have a grievance but we were flat out told not to use it because if we do they will know we did and they "will not be happy with us". I am just stunned.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2007

I, too, love geriatrics. However, I have noticed 'more of the same' at each nursing home I have ever worked at. I wouldn't give up with working with the elderly so quickly because there are wonderful nursing homes in existence.

My current workplace, an upscale nursing home, is not the most wonderful place of employment. It has problems such as bully nurse managers, lack of supplies, noncompetetive pay rates, CNAs who try to run the place, and low morale. However, I have never had more than 18 patients (which is a reasonable ratio in a nursing home). My schedule is flexible. In addition, nothing is more gratifying than hearing an elderly resident tell me, "I love you for all that you do for me."

ktwlpn, LPN · Jan 9, 2007

back in may 2006, i worked at one of the several hcr manor care nursing homes in fort worth, texas.the unit manager promised that i would receive 6 weeks of training and plenty of support. however, i received 2 days of training before being cut loose.

that's cause you are too smart for your own good,honey.....:kiss

JLW,RN · Jan 14, 2007

Hey guys,

I currently work for HCR ManorCare. Some of the info above was close, but not quite the truth.

This company used to be two separate companies. ManorCare was a company that, at one time, specialized in attracting private pay clients. As such, their facilities and staffing were actually quite good (especially for a publicly held company). HCR (Health Care and Retirement) was a smaller company who "merged with" (read: acquired) ManorCare in 1998.

I worked for the old MC as a DoN, and later as a consultant. I left for four years, and returned (recruited back by a friend of mine) a couple of years ago.

There are a couple of things every nurse will want to be aware of when interviewing with the company.

1. The company focus for the last three years has been to maximize revenue and profits by focusing on very ill, very complex subacute residents who are paid for by Medicare or Managed Care (their term for it is "M2"). This focus has caused them to increase their profits enormously over the last few years (look up their stock "HCR" and see how the Earning Per Share [EPS]) has skyrocketed). That, in itself would not be bad, except....

2. In the facilities I work in, the staffing has not been increased to handle the extra workload involved with the high admission and discharge rate required to maintain the "M2" census. This may not be true in all facilities, but if they are looking to hire you on their "Medicare" or "M2" unit(s), I'd be quite leery. Also...

3. In many place the marketing department is the most aggressive I've every seen. There are facilities in which they do not want the DoN or Administrator involved in the admission process in any way - because they might say no. I've seen cases where residents have shown up requiring special equipment or medications, which were not provided timely because of the "no-notice" admission.

All that having been said, some of their facilities are quite well run, and nice to work in. I would not take the above as a condemnation of every facility, but it's certainly some things to keep in mind.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

J

bellcollector · Jan 26, 2007

Honestly their mission statement is awesome and at the particular facility I refer too the staff can't be beat. The problem (and believe me the problem is EXTREME) is with the administrator and DON. Especially the DON who absolutely hates the admin. and is not the least bit shy about it. Unfortunately she "confides" in all the nurses in one way or another about the admin and all the nurses she "hates" and plans to "get rid of". It make for a horrible work environment. I hadn't been there a week and even some of the more lucid residents were warning me about management. I thought I had worked in some sucky places but this places has them all beat. Odd thing is were it not for the current Admin and DON it would be a GREAT place to work. The nurses are awesome and really seem to care about their residents. The STNA's are professional like I have never seen before. They do not argue or dilly dally they get straight to work and do an awesome job. I tried to file a complaint going through the chain of command but it stopped dead in it's tracks with the Administrator. He said he would contact the regional human resources director. He did not now I know longer work there and have no way of letting corporate know of the problems. Now that I don't work there even if I knew how to get hold of them they probably wouldn't believe me anyway. I guess I will just chalk it up to a lesson learned. Things are not what they seem You really need to be able to interview privately the current employee's before you decide to take the job.

Bokyo · Jan 26, 2007

I will start working on Monday...HCR Manor Care (Sunnyvale CA) is one of the best....that's all i can say...

The Administrator just moved to Colorado..we'll have a new Administrator and he's an Indian, we don't know yet...how it will turn out...

I remember when i was practicing my IP...he called me up...asking how am i doing, coz he never see me at all, and he never knew that i was on a NOC shift....he's a GREAT BOSS!!

The DON is very approachable, sweet...but wheeewwww....you should do your job well..or you'll hear from her!!

bellcollector · Feb 2, 2007

They seem like two people I would LOVE to work for. I am happy that you are in a good place I hope the majority of HCR Manor Care's are good ones. I would hate to think that most go through what the employees at the one I speak of go through.

DeeDee143 · Jul 12, 2007

well I can tell you at the facility that I work at it is not the case.Its a nice facility in all, but there is a downside to it.

1. The understaff and alot of time the nurses have to pull doubles and is tired, because they dont want to hire outside agencies( cheeap!!!)

2. They say everyone answer's call lights even managment,ha!!!, thats not the case they take out time calling other people instead of answering them.

3. They have new orientations every other week for new people because there is a high turnover rate.

They tell you this and that and try to sweeten things up a bit at oreintation ,but once you get on the floor you are out on your own.I agree I only got a few days of orientation about 2 weeks. This a a company and a company needs to make profits...so they do what ever they to do to do just that. The residence's get short changed in the end.DO NOT WORK HERE>

StNeotser, ASN, RN · Jul 25, 2007

I worked at an HCR Manorcare facility in Colorado where the management were truly awful. If you scream and shout at nurses and expect them to do a full 6-2 hour shift after completing a 10-6 shift guess what? They leave. Then you have even more pool staff in your facility and the vicious cycle of staffing only gets worse.

What Dee Dee said was true of this facility.