There is a med-surg job opening in a hospital I found on indeed.com. I reviewed the hospital's website which looks great, however patient reviews I've found online are poor. Many reviewa have the same opinion about doctors and nurses being incompetent and lacking care, and the hospital being outdated with faulty machinery.
I'm currently fishing for my first RN hospital job. I just graduate with my BSN and have worked in home health as an LVN for 8 years. I want to land a good hospital job and build up my acute care experience, however I would like to know what others think about applying to institutions that do not have a good reputation. I fear that this place may lack in good management and supportive staff.
What are the patient reviews for other hospitals in the area? Whether or not they have a comparable percentage of negative reviews would affect my decision.
Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
I would check the reviews from people *working* there. There is a site that does this. one of the job applying sites, I think it is indeed.com. My opinion about patient reviews of hospitals would be somewhere along the lines of how I feel about student reviews of teachers. Many times the best teachers get the worst reviews and the worst teachers get the best reviews.
I agree with making up your own mind. My first job was at a hospital in a small town with very poor reviews. As it turned out I had an incredible experience there. Staffing wise this hospital was stretched thin but they had a lot of experienced nurses and a 4 month new grad program. I was mentored not only by my assigned preceptor but other nurses on the floor had no problem pulling me aside and showing me how to do things or giving me information and advice. The hospital was pretty flexible and allowed me to cross train on 2 other units and I was able to work those units for extra money or if the census was down on my own unit (rare). The downside was that patient loads were high, sometimes 7:1 on a med/surg floor. So, yeah, there were a fair amount of dissatisfied patients in terms of customer service. I am sure more than a few of those people complained online. Won't hurt to see with the facility has to offer you.
thanks everyone for your great insights. I'll be checking for employee reviews and will apply to this hospital among all the others to keep my options open
If they have poor patient reviews, chances are management isn't doing anything to sort things out meaning that this place would be favorable for anyone looking to take it easy.
indeed.com and glassdoor.com are my go-to sites for employee ratings of hospitals - I pretty much ignore any place that hasn't got a 4-5/5 rating.
I also agree with the PP who mentioned interviewing and seeing how things played out in that process. My most recent experience was a choice between a level 1 trauma center and a specialty ICU. The experience with the trauma center was so underwhelming that I almost walked out before the interview even took place - being told to sit tight for nearly 1/2 an hour waiting to interview rubbed me the wrong way, and the amount of cooing and pandering during the interview ("Wow, you're so smart! You're the only one so far that got this scenario question right!") struck me as immature and demonstrated an incredibly low standard for intellect. So many things I could have said ...
The ICU experience was completely opposite - everything was done promptly and professionally, no BS. All that to say, the interview experience can be very eye opening in terms of the hospital's "character".
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Libby1987
3,726 Posts
What are the patient reviews for other hospitals in the area? Whether or not they have a comparable percentage of negative reviews would affect my decision.