I got offered Kaiser, Straub, and Queens..which would you pick?

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I'm very grateful for getting offered a position at the top 3 hospitals in Oahu IMO. My question is which overall would you pick? I live on the Leeward side so commute is important for me.

Starting pay at straub 41$

Starting pay at queens 44$

I don't know the starting for Kaiser yet I'll get back to this post later.

I'm trying to weight the pro's and cons of each hospital to make a overall better decision. Help me out please.

Straub- HPH, PROS: very professional, hard interview and pretest really screens their nurses, nurses are treated awesome, 4:1 patient ratio, most cna's are nurses, single patient rooms, top 5% patient satisfaction, lots of CNA help.

CONS: Location 60min commute with traffic to my location, parking 6$ blaisdel.

Queens- PROS: Magnet hospital, most resources for nurses in Hawaii, specializes in everything, competitive pay, most opportunities, each nurse has a phone, teaching hospital

Cons: Same as straub, too much people not very friendly, nurse to take own vitals on some units.

Kaiser- Highest pay (I heard), double time and a half on holidays, close to Leeward side 15-20min commute, new facility, best benefits (free medical or cheapest medical), gym benefits haha,

Cons: Poor cna ratios to patients, Nurse does most primary care, kaiser insurance is limited.

Please let me know your thoughts if you work at any of these facilities. Thanks :)

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Hi,

im im not a nurse yet but I do work at queens. It's a great hospital. I know the commute and parking is terrible! Some employees have been on the parking waitlist for more than 7 years. But after 6 mos of employment there you can transfer out to west. So in my opinion working at queens punchbowl for 6 months is not much of a sacrifice to make considering you get to transfer out.

And yes yes many opportunity is made available to you once you are in. :)

west opens up May 20

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Thanks I use to work for queens as well, lots of opportunities. But after 12 hour shifts its tiring to drive after a day or night shift. I'm located on the leeward side and kaiser is close compared to queens punch bowl. It was very hard for me to get into kaiser, and kaiser is nationwide while queens is just in Hawaii. I've heard Cali Kaiser Nurses get paid the most.

I could transfer to West Oahu but I would have to work atleast 18 months before transferring according to the queens contract.

Thanks for your input, west oahu would be a perfect choice but I don't have that option unfortunately :(.

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Kaiser Hospital in Moanalua would be the best choice for you, since you already have nursing experience in acute care, under your belt. Lucky you. Pretty soon going to be a new-grad, and it's difficult for new grads to even find work at Kaiser (at least for the hospital here in Hawaii).

Another benefit to working at Kaiser is parking. As you've mentioned, you pay $6.00 to park at the Blaisdell Center if you work either at Straub or QMC. QMC also has a long, long, long waiting list for parking spots for employees. QMC has a shuttle bus that picks up their employees from the parking structure. But for Kaiser, there are plenty of street parking near the Moanalua Golf Course and street parking by The Plaza care home.

Good luck with your decision. ;)

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Thanks, I'm still holding out. I need more input. Traffic and Parking is a big negative for me with those hospitals...just 6$/day and finding street parking is a hassle.

I know how it is to be a new grad, its tough but once you get that one year of experience...your pretty much golden, ACLS/PALS helps too, and having tele background is a plus.

Truly one year isn't enough of experience IMO...i'm still learning everyday...I still feel like a new grad.

I do see where your coming from. I'm situated in waipahu, so Kaiser is much closer than the other two. I was just thinking that Kaiser is nationwide while queens and straub is local. I worked at the latter two but never really experienced working at Kaiser, that's why I'm hesitant.

Does anyone work here?

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well personally I would choose queens. it is a magnet hospital. queens has the most room for growth and the most resources. the parking seems like a little issue compared to the bigger picture. to be the best nurse you must place yourself in the best possible situation.. #QUEENS! aloha!

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Thanks yes queens is considered the most acute and only magnet hospital in the islands. Parking is a small issue.. its the traffic that everyone complains about. It's literally like driving in a parking lot and everyone is trying to find a parking space. Granted queens is a perfect hospital for townies but for people on the west side it can be a hassle waking up 2 hours before your shift and making sure your on the road at least a hour before your shift.

Thanks for your input and your rationale is a very valid one.

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I know how it is to be a new grad, its tough but once you get that one year of experience...your pretty much golden, ACLS/PALS helps too, and having tele background is a plus.

Truly one year isn't enough of experience IMO...i'm still learning everyday...I still feel like a new grad.

@ Gtrebyari,

Thank you for the information for nursing experience.

I know this thread is about you asking info on working at hospitals here in Hawaii. However, did you immediately find a job in an acute care/hospital setting after you graduated from nursing school? Or did you have to find a job in a long-term care facility, and use that experience to bargain your way into hospitals?

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Specializes in Surgical and Cardiovascular ICU.

I've worked at Kaiser for 15 years and it's not a bad place to work. The advantages at working at Kaiser would include the commute, which is a much better choice traveling from Waipahu than Queeen's or Straub. I live in Kapolei area and it takes me between 30-40min in traffic to reach Kaiser MOA, would probably take twice as long to travel to the other facilities. As someone already mentioned the parking is much much better, $15/month to park in a lot located about 50yds from the entrance or in the garage if you work nights! The pay is very competitive and maybe the best on the island, once you get through the probation period and hit full pay grade it's around $51/hr plus night and charge differential. I'm not quite sure what employees of other facilities pay for their Health Plan, but for a Family Plan I pay $70 per pay period with a $15 office visit and $10 prescription copay. Most of the Hospital is also newly remodeled with updated monitors, equipment, Epic Computer charting etc... The majority of our physicians and staff are very friendly, helpful and easy to work with!

Some of the Negatives of working at Kaiser include: The fact that just like many other facilities here in the islands we've been hit hard by the new Health Care Mandates and have cut costs wherever possible. Meaning many ancillary and support staff have been downsized or entirely let go. The Hospital Transporter's were downsized and combined with the lift team, so now it can take up to several hours to get assistance from either one and Nursing is expected to pick up the slack. Hospital Aides are hard to come by and you'll often work without one. Same thing with the Ward Clerks/Secretaries, as they leave or get sick they are not replaced. You'll often not have them and be expected to do without. We used to have Dietary Aides who would come around and take patients orders, now it's a phone system and if the patient is not able to order themselves, guess who get's to place the order for them...you do!!!

Management is not very supportive, and often run most units on a skeleton staff. If at all possible they will combine patients from several units, shut one down for several day's and place everyone on call. I'm sure this may happen in other facilities as well, but don't be surprised if you don't always get your full 72hrs each pay period. In my unit alone last year many of us lost between 150 and 200 hrs of work. Another downside has been the fact that the Education Dept has been discontinued. If you care to advance your career and move into OR, Critical Care or some other specialty it's very difficult at Kaiser since these advanced classes are not offered. Even certifications like EKG, PALS, BLS, ACLS etc...are not available in house, they have to be taken elsewhere and your supervisor will not approve ED time! Lastly, is the new 24/7 visitation policy which Kaiser is very proud of, but never bothered to run by any of the staff. Unlimited visitor's of all ages are allowed to visit anytime day or night, and staff members are not allowed to ask them to step out for assessments, report, shift change etc...it becomes quite overwhelming sometimes!

Other than those issues Kaiser is a pretty good place to work.

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Wow that's the answer I was really looking for, someone who actually works there.

The PROS. Look awesome Park, pay, health benefits... The Cons doesn't sound too bad except losing hours. Do you suggest I pick up a Prn position somewhere? I will be going to school and working. I think the pay makes up for it...I haven't heard of any other hospital doing the double time and a half. Would you say recently there is available OT shifts? I really appreciate your input, it was hard to find someone who actually works there. I'm leaning more towards Kaiser, but I know Straub has so much available education resources. I'm coming from a hospital where we hardly had aids or unit secretaries.. And definitely no lift teams, and one transporter for the whole hospital haha so I don' t think that would be a problem.

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I worked Kaiser for 11 years (prior to nursing) and was pretty happy for the most part. Pay and benefits are very competitive. Ultimately I left to start my career at HPH. The lack of an education department and career advancement at Kaiser was a deal breaker. Kaiser also hasn't been in the best financial shape recently. They've laid off all the clinic RN's, a ton of middle management, security, transport, etc all over the past 2 years. It's a little scary for my new grad friends working there with no seniority. But Kaiser has been close to shutting down their Hawaii operations before so hopefully they bounce back again. As far as job security, HPH and QMC are kind've a no brainer.

As far as job rate goes IIRC it's Straub

I forget where the other hospitals go. The pay difference isn't more than $1/hr or so though. So it really comes down to the other benefits (medical, PTO, OT, differentials, etc).

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Thanks for your insight very informative. I have heard about clinical RN's being laid off but not of the acute hosptial RN's. I completely agree the pay and benefits are VERY competitive, one of the main reasons why I want to work there.

I've heard about the lack of education which I'm sad about, but I know that the other hospitals such as HPH and queens offer them if I were to do a PRN position. There are so much positions open at queens and HPH I doubt it will be hard to get into those hospitals.

The pay is whats drawing me to Kaiser and the double time and a half, kaiser insurance, and the night differentials, and the location.

I will be attending school part time so I do need the money :(.

Kaiser has done some renovations from what I heard and management is getting a little better. I hope they don't lay of nurses though -_-. Pali momi is the highest paid I think d/t them being non-union unfortunately they can drop nurses if they please.

I really appreciate your input it will help me with my decision!

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