Henry ford hospital

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Jan 7, 2008

I am not sure of the starting wages there since I came there with 5 yrs exp. I like it very much at Henry Ford. We are a teaching hospital so you will see and learn a lot. I work in the Neuro surgical ICU. I have a fantastic group of co workers. I think that was the best move I made.

vbmdetr · Jan 17, 2008

Starting wage as of early 2007 was $24, plus 7% off shift differential plus $2/hour weekend differential.

They have generally enough equipment and supplies to do your job, and patient ratios are the same as or less than other Detroit area hospitals (except U of M I think). 5-6 patients on a med surg floor is typical on days & evenings, but if they are really complex, unstable patients as they often are it's real tough. And 6-8 on midnights. If anyone works anywhere with good patient ratios let me know and I'll be first in line to sign up to work there.

Good diversity in RN staff (international, white, African American). Benefits are OK, they have a (small) pension plan but do not match 401K/403B contributions. For health care you will pay a lot more if you don't choose to be in the HAP Henry Ford network, or use a Henry Ford Pharmacy.

Day shift parking is off site and you will be shuttled. Off shift is at an onsite garage.

You see a lot of interesting cases.

Best of luck to you deciding, think about what's important to you in a job and go from there!

(anonymous)

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Jan 17, 2008

Since you are asking from a staff RN perspective, I will respond based on my experience as a staff RN there (in the ER):

1. Very diverse patient population and very diverse medical and nursing staff. I don't even mean just racial diversity, there is so much interesting and unusual cases that come through their doors. So much medical complexity in the cases as some are referred from other hospitals as far as Flint, MI.

2. So much choices as far as work settings. However, Pediatrics is very limited. Apart from a Level III Neonatal ICU, there is no Pediatric Unit for those interested in that field. There is a Pediatric section in the ER though but patients are admitted to Children's if hospitalization is necessary. Other than that, RN's can basically transfer in-house to any specialty they can think of from med-surg, to neonates to transplant to many different ICU specializations. From what I have observed many nurses do move around a lot and change roles within the organization.

3. Benefits are competitive with other Metro Detroit hospitals and date benefits take effect is similar to most (1st day of the month following hire date). Like most hospitals, health care benefits are cheap if you choose the hospital's own health care network as someone already mentioned. True 403B is not matched, however, there are 2 other retirement options. One is the pension plan, the other is an employee contribution plan that earns interest similar to 403B. You are eligible to have all three options.

4. Continuing education opportunities abound. Training programs are offered for the field you are in. As a former ER nurse, I had the hospital's critical care training program (the best one I've had), ACLS, TNCC, ENPC, PALS (optional), all offered on-site and free of charge.

5. Support from nursing management is better than other hospitals I've been in. There is a good balance between experienced and newbie nurses. Many experienced nurses are willing to be helpful and know their stuff well. This is probably subjective and highly dependent on specific nursing units.

RN1982 · Feb 15, 2008

I am in my orientation the Surgical ICU at Henry Ford Hospital-Main and I love it. I worked at a popular oakland county hospital...you always hear the commericals on tv or the radio talking about their doctors, but having had to deal with bad staffing, bad management and learning to kiss the doctors butts(because they actually sent all employees to a mandatory conference), I was fed up and burned out. I worked there for five years, two years as a nurse. I have always wanted to be in the ICU so I decided HFH was the place for me. I've been there for over a month and love it.

The doctors are excellent, attendings and residents alike. The environment is collaborative. They actually listen to their nurses there. Something that I NEVER experienced at my former job was a doctor actually introducing themselves to me. My first day at HFH, a nephrologist came into my patient's room and said "hello, my name is Dr......and I'm from Nephrology", I was blown away.

So basically, I wouldn't base where you want to work on if the hospital is a certain county or city, if ya know what I mean. I love Detroit. I love Henry Ford and I'm glad I made the decision to go there.

P.S. I live in Troy, doesn't take long to get to downtown Detroit.

Firehawk734 · Feb 16, 2008

I have had a bad experience with a cardiologist and a general surgeon there. The general surgeon's name is Harb. I do'nt remember the cardiologist. But I went there to get a hernia checked out, knew I was going to need a surgery (i knew I had one), and when the general surgeon was going over my medical history (I had ablation done to fix atrial fib a few years ago) he would not believe me when I told him I had an Ablation done. In fact he said they weren't even doing that on humans. He continued to argue with me until I told him to get away from me and I complained to the nurse supervisor on duty (VERY NICE LADY). The next day the chief surgeon called me and was very apologetic. I told him he ought to force that guy to retire because he's clearly not caught up on things.

The cardiologist there I saw when I first had trouble (found out I had atrial fib). He said i was eating too much protein and it caused my heart to do that. Now at the time i had not lost weight and wasn't up on nutritional education (lost 108 lbs over the next 3 years the natural way) so I never challenged him on it. But now that I look back, what an idiot.

Otherwise, I was born at that hospital (when it was general hospital) and any other times I've been there it has been a pleasant experience. As far as nurses are concerned, never had a problem. Very nice people there.

PS. I'm speaking about the one in Wyandotte, not sure if there are others...

RN1982 · Feb 16, 2008

I'm sorry you had a bad experience there. Do realize that at any hospital you can have a bad experience. Some of the doctors out there think they are god, especially at the Oakland county hospital I used to work at. Sounds like that particular cardiologist worked back in the stone age because they do ablations all the time.

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Feb 16, 2008

PS. I'm speaking about the one in Wyandotte, not sure if there are others...

Do remember too that Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital is staffed by a different group of physicians than the ones at the main hospital in Detroit although the two hospitals are part of the same health system. Wyandotte also have their own residency program geared towards training of osteopathic physicians.

Firehawk734 · Feb 16, 2008

It was the general surgeon that didn't know what an Ablation was and the cardiologist clearly was not updated either. But yea, bad experiences can happen anywhere. I have been fortunate to only have those 2 bad experiences. My regular physician is through HFMC in Taylor so I haven't abandoned that system altogether.