I have to give Praise to Banner Health (McKee and NCMC)

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

I have no problem eating some crow and I am in no way being paid to say any of the following. In fact hopefully I don't get in trouble for being honest. LOL

So when I first moved to my area I was dead set on PVHS. I read all the hype and saw they had a gazillion awards and magnet status etc. etc. and I was set that I had to work there. I heard some negative things with Banner and I had a negative experience with having my kid. It wasn't an overall negative experience, just one nurse and she wasn't mean or anything, she just wouldn't listen to me. I was no newbie to having a baby and I knew something was wrong. I ended up being right and thankfully because of a fast acting team my daughter was delivered safely. It was a close call though. So that kinda sealed it for me. I didn't live in Greeley but I worked there and it was easier to have my prenatal appointments there. My following appointments for anything was at PVHS since I was no longer working in Greeley and I was deadset on being done with banner and was just sure they must be a terrible place. I have had a good experience at PVHS. They used to have super good benifits for RN's and incentives and are so hard to get into that I think it made the appeal even more. 2 of my neighbors work for them.

So anyway, FF a few years from that experience and I started Nursing Shcool. My first hospital clinicals were at PVHS. I didn't have a bad experience. My CI was very nice. Nothing really stood out. I am a pretty positive person and am pretty social once I am comfortable with my environment so I got along with everyone just fine. A lot of classmates did not have a bad experience but not a great one either. They just felt that the staff was not very friendly to students at all. Well PVHS could do no wrong in my opinion at the time so I didn't really notice anything about the surroundings. Like I said, my experience wasn't bad at all. I would say average.

Next semester I was at McKee. I was NOT looking forward to this. I had never even heard of the hospital. It was small, it was not what I was used to at all. The set up was different, the equipment, the procedures, the layout. I felt out of place. I had the most WONDERFUL CI who is a Nurse Practitioner at NCMC. She did our Clinicals at McKee. So go to clinicals and it's just a completely different vibe. Very "homey" feelings, the staff is SO NICE, they go out of their way to make the students feel great. We did have 2 nurses that other students had a bad time with. Multiple students but their had been ongoing problems with those nurses and action was being taken and they made sure they didn't get students anymore. So anyway, there isn't anything I can say negative about them.

Next semester I get Clinicals at NCMC. OH NO!!! Not NCMC. Again, I was nervous and panicked and worried on how it would be, again I have nothing bad I can say. They were wonderful, the nurses were great, the residents were nice, they were very encouraging. The environment just felt good. It was completely not what I expected at all. I had such a great experience that I considered seeking employment with Banner school. I started networking, and honestly can't say one negative experience I had there. The employees, probably 98% of them, seemed very happy to work there. I also find out they are magnet too. They have similar awards too. I go and look at their benefits again and see a lot has changed and they have great benefits, they are really working on higher retention numbers and worked on how to make the employees happier. In fact, they have better tuition reimbursement and I see that PVHS has scaled back on a lot of what they used to have. So Banner is in the front as far as what they have to offer. The premiums on the health benefits are a little higher but they don't contract at all. It's their insurance and they pay the claims. There are no pre-existing condition exclusions since way before obamacare. They have a lot of resources free for their employees and their family and if you are struggling they truly try to help you and work with you before you get fired.

So FF to my senior practicum. I am put back on PVHS. This time I am more perceptive of the environment because my rose color glasses were off. They are still a good hospital, they strive for patient care, BUT at the cost of the staff IMO. The staff seemed very unhappy. The environment seemed very negative. MAJORITY of the nurses I talked to were not happy with the company and where it was going as far as Nursing. They are SO focused on patient care that they are having unreal expectations of the nurses. More paperwork and charting then every. More surveys and forms and they are turning into census managed shifts. New Grads are behign hired at what they think is full time but they are census managed and end up being only guaranteed 16 hrs per shift or something like that. It's something new they are implementing and slowly transitioning. A lot of the current nurses are not happy because they currently have their guaranteed hours but if they want to transition to a new unit the new position is census managed. New employees aren't getting enough hours. It's just a completely different vibe and a lot more "sterile" feeling. I have talked to a few people that were fired off the bat if they didn't meet the new time constraints and a talked to a good many nurses that were worried they could be fired at any time. Their new hospital has a very toxic environment behind closed doors. Nurses yelling and screaming at each other in report.

I graduated and started applying, I got a job at Banner right away, NCMC. It has been a WONDERFUL experience from the start and I have never been so excited. I know it's to early to tell if I will truly be happy there since I am only in the orientation phase, but I have no doubts. I can not explain how great the vibe is. (I am naturally a positive person and enthusiastic about nursing so I am sure negative people will find anything to complain about). But the HR people have been outstanding, every person I have met and who did orientation have been so wonderful and friendly and supportive. My new manager is so nice, I got a good feeling about her in my interview and it's still there. She is just awesome and supportive and understanding. Even as a new grad and new employee I was putting in a good word for a friend of mine and she was very perceptive to hearing me and telling me to have my friend email her giving her a chance to interview. I can't even say I was shocked, she just seemed so warm and welcoming I felt I could tell her about my friend and she would be open to listening to me.

So anyway, like I said, I am not paid to say this. I just fully believe in not only venting about the negative but giving praise where praise is due. NCMC has gotten a bad rap and I myself fell into it all. So I just wanted to say to anyone coming to this area that NCMC and McKee are WONDERFUL hospitals to work for!!!!! Don't discount them just because they don't focus only on their gazillion awards. Their Mission Statement was my exact reasoning for going into Nursing!!!!

Sorry for any typos and errors, I didn't proofread this because I need to get to bed!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

I just had to update. I am so excited, putting in a good word for my best friend worked and she got a pre-screening phone call that went great and now an interview. She loves Banner as well. It will be so nice to have my friend get a job there too and if she is on nights we can carpool the nights we work together and do the new grad resident program together. I have my first night on the floor tomorrow. What I have seen all this week has been awesome for my orientation stuff.

[hope3456, ASN, RN]

wow! crazy what you say is going on at PVH. I worked there 2 different times between 2001 and 2008....when i started there really was a 'shortage.' At that time I can say they tried really hard to maintain staff - not saying it was perfect but nurses were never cancelled and could pick up an extra shift at double pay. However, I did see the job postings dwindle and more and more new graduates getting hired so I was concerned about a 'glut' coming, apparently it did. Also due to their 'stellar' reputation they got alot of experienced nurses from other locales who wanted to work at a magnet hospital.

I did get a gut feeling that Rulon Stacy (i think that is his name - the CEO) was a bit pretentious. He was good at getting media attention for all the 'awards.' I feel really sorry for the new grads who signed contracts with them, to be locked into a job getting so few hours.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

wow! crazy what you say is going on at PVH. I worked there 2 different times between 2001 and 2008....when i started there really was a 'shortage.' At that time I can say they tried really hard to maintain staff - not saying it was perfect but nurses were never cancelled and could pick up an extra shift at double pay. However, I did see the job postings dwindle and more and more new graduates getting hired so I was concerned about a 'glut' coming, apparently it did. Also due to their 'stellar' reputation they got alot of experienced nurses from other locales who wanted to work at a magnet hospital.

I did get a gut feeling that Rulon Stacy (i think that is his name - the CEO) was a bit pretentious. He was good at getting media attention for all the 'awards.' I feel really sorry for the new grads who signed contracts with them, to be locked into a job getting so few hours.

They are cutting a lot of benis too. I have a handful of friends that work there, one is my neighbor. They no longer do the night shift bonus, they have just a flat rate differential like banner and my neighbor was just telling me they were trying to cut that as well. It's crazy. I couldn't believe the stuff he was telling me and then a friend of his came over who works there and was saying a bunch of stuff and was asking me all about banner and how I like it because he wants to leave. If you worked there in 2008 depending the shift and unit you probably know my neighbor. Him and his wife have worked there for years. I just keep hearing a lot of "unhappy" stories. So far from what I have seen with banner I can not say one negative thing. It's been a wonderful experience and I keep hearing great things from the people that work there about how much they like it with the direction they have taken and changes they have been doing.

[dolgre]

Since you are recently familiar with this area, could you give me an idea of the pay scales at these facilities? I currently have @ 18 months experience and I work in a medium sized ICU/CCU/Step Down unit in a hospital in NM. We make approximately 22 per hour with benefits or 26 an hour pay in lieu of benefits for full-time, permanent new grads, (new hires with more experience probably only get a couple dollars more per hour). PRN is 35 per hour. Are there pay differences depending on specialty? What are the nurse to patient ratio's on your floors? Any feedback is much appreciated--Our family may need to move to that part of the country next year so I have been trying to estimate the quality of nursing jobs and our ability to afford the cost of living up there. thanks!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

Since you are recently familiar with this area, could you give me an idea of the pay scales at these facilities? I currently have @ 18 months experience and I work in a medium sized ICU/CCU/Step Down unit in a hospital in NM. We make approximately 22 per hour with benefits or 26 an hour pay in lieu of benefits for full-time, permanent new grads, (new hires with more experience probably only get a couple dollars more per hour). PRN is 35 per hour. Are there pay differences depending on specialty? What are the nurse to patient ratio's on your floors? Any feedback is much appreciated--Our family may need to move to that part of the country next year so I have been trying to estimate the quality of nursing jobs and our ability to afford the cost of living up there. thanks!

I am a new grad with no experience so I get the base pay. 22.93 p/h then 4 p/h differential for nights and on Fri and Sat. nights an extra 2 p/h for that. OT and Holiday is time and a half. I am not sure if it is different on the different units. Banners website if you search CO postings will show the base pay for the different jobs, since you have exp. I am assuming you would get more. They list the rate for Flate Rate nurses as well without benis I want to say that base pay was 27.

The ratio for days is 4-5 and nights 5-6. I am on Peds but from my understanding the rest of the hospital is much the same except higher acute areas. When we function as a Pediatric ICU it's a 1:1 or 2:1 depending on the severity. There is another major health system in my area. PVHS. It's a lot harder system to get into but their pay and differentials are pretty identical now. New Grads start at 23 so just a 7 cent difference.

My town (fort collins) is a little spendier in cost of living but it's a really nice area. There are cheaper areas in the town and more expensive like most areas. Greeley, which is where NCMC (Banner) is located has a lower cost of living. The town is really expanding and it's got a pretty nice area to it now too. I commute to work, it's about a 35-40 minute drive from where I live. But in my area they're 5 hospitals within a 40 minute range (from my house)

New grad jobs are extremely hard to get here but experienced nurses have a little more flexibility.

I really love the area I live in so I might be a little biased on my opinions.

[MissPinkrnbsn]

Thanks for your input on the different health systems in NoCo. Being a new grad myself, i've been applying to several places. I wanted to stay in this area but at the same time I know I need to be flexible.

[hope3456, ASN, RN]

[quote=~Mi Vida Loca~RN;5360117The ratio for days is 4-5 and nights 5-6. I am on Peds but from my understanding the rest of the hospital is much the same except higher acute areas. When we function as a Pediatric ICU it's a 1:1 or 2:1 depending on the severity. There is another major health system in my area. PVHS. It's a lot harder system to get into but their pay and differentials are pretty identical now. New Grads start at 23 so just a 7 cent difference.

How much support staff do you have on night shift - cna, ward clerk, ect? just curious

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

How much support staff do you have on night shift - cna, ward clerk, ect? just curious

It just depends on the ratios. Census has been low which is common in the summer for Peds so the charge hasn't called in an Aide. I have only had 2 patients, one adult and one kiddo so didn't need an aide and the other nurse had 1 patient and then a new admit 3 hrs before shift change. They keep an aide on call in case the numbers go up. There is a BA that makes rounds but with census low we haven't had to have one stay on the unit. I believe day shift has one.But we are going to all Doctor order entries on the 19th and getting rid of the paper charts. So the docs will be responsible for entering their own orders. McKee has been like this for years and now NCMC is implementing get. So far with the way the census has been it's run really smooth without any problems and with plenty of time left over. Fall/Winter I will have a better idea of how much support there is when we stay full. But I know with kiddos the ratios are different for calling people in, you can call in an aide I think when you hit 5 kids or something like that. I have only been on the floor a few times all with a low census so I don't know the ins and outs yet on how all that works.