Input on Fresenius in WV?

[bluelorelai]

Hello All,

I'm new to this site, but have been around the block more than I care to admit...

I am interviewing for a job with Fresenius tomorrow.... I have done a huge amount of reading on this company on both this site and vault dot com -- and I've definitely found a wide range of opinions and experiences there.

Anyone have any input? I am wondering how their salary compares with the local hospitals too...

Thanks in advance!

[Noryn]

Take the Cabell job! I had a friend that worked for the one in Charleston and did not like it. They ended up at Cabell Huntington and state that is it the best place they have ever worked.

I think the salary would be competitive for Charleston, probably not so much for the Huntington area.

[bluelorelai]

:chuckle you must've seen my other post! Thanks for the advice-- Truly I am leaning toward the dialysis thing, Mainly because of the paid training. As I get older, I feel like I need a "hedge" against all the new grads out there. The hospitals here would rather hire an energetic newbie that isn't wise to their crap yet for peanuts, than an old dog like me who tells them exactly where they can go....

Somehow, though I have a sinking feeling that a year from now I might be sitting here saying to myself, "I shoulda listened to Noryn..."

[Noryn]

My friend is an "old dog" who had their fill of CAMC. They had actually gotten out of bedside nursing for a bit then returned and ended up at Cabell and again really like it. I would apply there but I havent really done "nursing" for 6 years or so.

Regardless of the the outcome I think you will definitely learn a lot from Fresenius, I just dont think it will be a place to work long term but I could be wrong. I have never worked for them.

Ask about the hours, from what I remember my friend had to work long hours. Keep us updated though.

[bluelorelai]

Yup... know the feeling. I am just about full of that place myself.

It seems like I have always had to keep my foot in the door in 2 or 3 places in the valley just to be able to work enough hours to feed the animals and keep the lights on. Working in the units, they are so eager to flexflexflex you down when they don't need you.... the lure of having (at the least) stable hours, even if its more than I really want, is enough to pique my interest in Fresenius.

And I really wonder if I am being unreasonable when say: Is it too much to ask to be able to look at your work schedule, and know that you are going to work those days, you are going to get paid for them, and you are not going to have to scramble to make up your time somewhere else before the end of the pay period? How about having a reasonable idea of where you are going to work or what you will be doing when you show up there? Nursing seems to have gotten so .... self serving. The hospitals are much more into serving themselves than serving the communities that they make their money from.

Really, I am not complaining... just ..... lamenting.

I am SO GLAD I found this place! Thanks so much for your kind words and thoughtful encouragement. I will definitely keep you posted.

[cpnegrad07]

Please keep us all posted. I enjoy (and need) learning about the local labor/job market, employers, perks, etc.

[oakie]

I hope that you did not take the job and FMC. I was recently employed with FMC and it was a nightmare. I was told so many great things at my interview in which only a few took place. The CM was running to many other clinics to where she could not even focus on her own clinic or answer questions that you approached her with. Most of the time you had to keep asking or turn to HR or Tiffany the instuctor for answers. The techs was easy to work with at first, then they wanted to start playing games and made the work place an awful place to work. I reported incidence to my CM but I was new and the old techs would tell her what she wanted to hear and that was the end of that. No problem that occured there ever got resolved as far as I am aware of. I felt that patients did not get proper care and even witnessed techs making up information and putting it in the computer just to take a short cuts. Was it the techs fault or the CM fault d/t long hours and being under paid with no respect for what you do. I love dialysis and I have went to the hospital to work in dialysis because I did make a difference in so many of my patients life, but FMC would talk about differences that needed to be made but that was all that got done. It was a horrible place to work and I dont recommend it just because of paid training, because they are a under paying facility. Therefore, you don't even want to get me started on the schedule. You would have to call on Saturday to get your schedule for the following week, or even call the CM on Sunday to find out what you was working. If you had a disput in the schedule, you was told sorry "there's nothing I can do about it" as if, I did not have a life outside of the clinic. Trying to find a babysitter, scheduling doctor appts, or trying to schedule family outtings was out the question. It was as if you belonged to FMC and you did not have a life outside of it. Please consider your options before applying for FMC.

[bluelorelai]

Thanks for your input! I am happy to report that I did NOT take the Fresinius job-- I couldn't bring myself to try it because I had just heard too many stories like yours! Even now, three months later, I have yet to hear literally even ONE good thing about that company. :grn: