houston hospitals vs agencies

[nik05lsu]

I recently moved to the clear lake area and I am looking for a job. I am interested in knowing how are the Houston Hospitals. Can you make your own schedules, how many weeekends a month do you work, do you get pulled to different areas in the hospital and what is the ratio of nurse to patients? Do the hospitals use agency nurses?

[futurenurseTx]

hello out there...I am currently taking my prereqs. at a local college and interested in transferring to Houston Baptist Univeristy...anyone out there graduate from HBU? How are there nursing programs?

[NurseStacey143, ADN, RN]

It all depends on your nurse manager. I am at St. Luke's hospital. In my opinion it is the best place to work in the houston area. OF course....I may be biased. My nurse manager is fantastic and really makes our floor work as well as it does. We do have self scheduling as well. The staff on my floor is also great. We need at least 4 nurses per shift, so if one day there is a 3 and another is a 5 we can easily accomadate. Ive never run into a problem where i had to work during a important school event for my children. We do have to work 3 holidays a year and some weekends when were short. basically our paychecks are 84 hours (or more with OT) 3 12's one week and 4 12's the next. Hope that helps you.

[NurseStacey143, ADN, RN]

sorry med surg average ratio is 6 to 1. The only time we get pulled if if our ratios are very low....haha which on my floor never happens. But when it does, we "Take turns" so the same nurse doesnt get pulled each time.

[mattsmom81]

sorry med surg average ratio is 6 to 1. The only time we get pulled if if our ratios are very low....haha which on my floor never happens. But when it does, we "Take turns" so the same nurse doesnt get pulled each time.

Hi Stacey, just curious...do you have a CNA to assist or do you do only primary care on your medsurg unit?

PS good to hear of decent hospitals down there, as we may relocate there. :)

[NurseStacey143, ADN, RN]

We have PCA's who assist with the 6 to 1 ratio. Some of them can even do blood draws if they were trained. Other than that, they pass food trays, take vitals, blood sugars, wash the patients and assist with many other things. Were glad to have them!