job opportunities at duke hosp

Brickman · Jul 25, 2004

I have noticed that for every happy Duke employee there are 10 that will tell you to work anywhere but Duke. I started nursing school with the intention of working at Duke when I graduated. After three different clinical rotations there, I didn't even apply there after school.

Furball · Jul 25, 2004

I worked briefly at UNC hospitals in Chapel Hill in the past. I've heard some horror stories bantered about from Duke nurses and even heard the same thing from a nurse who worked there for years now living here in NY.

I had a very positive experience in Chapel Hill....check them out. It's a very busy and sometimes stressful facility but I really enjoyed it there. The docs I dealt with were very professional and friendly. (I'm sutre there are bad apples just like anyplace else) They are very good with trauma/burn pts if that's what you are interested in. Even their CTICU is full of trauma pts. Their per diem rates are pretty good.

Good luck!

mac23 · Aug 2, 2004

I guess it really depends on the unit you are working in. As far as the acutal job... I like it. It's like anywhere you'll go some will hate it some will love it some don't really care. I'm also going to school there. There are plenty of downsides to Duke though. First being the pay.........it's terrible. Absolutely terrible. If it weren't for my husband needing to be here, I would have never come here just because of the pay alone. Benefits are ok...but expensive. I can say that I don't see myself retiring here but for my specialty and the schooling it had to be my choice. I've heard some bad things that the hospital admitted to us (during orientation) but as a result things have been put into place to improve those things. It's just like any other hospital..it has it's goods and bads. My orientation to the unit was excellent even though I had previous experience...I learned a lot. Overall, I'm happy with the actual job but some of the other stuff makes me not give it a complete thumbs up. I've worked at a total of 5 different hospitals (not all in North Carolina) and I'd say Duke is not the best place I've worked and it's not the worst...somewhere in between.

I worked briefly at UNC hospitals in Chapel Hill in the past. I've heard some horror stories bantered about from Duke nurses and even heard the same thing from a nurse who worked there for years now living here in NY.
I had a very positive experience in Chapel Hill....check them out. It's a very busy and sometimes stressful facility but I really enjoyed it there. The docs I dealt with were very professional and friendly. (I'm sutre there are bad apples just like anyplace else) They are very good with trauma/burn pts if that's what you are interested in. Even their CTICU is full of trauma pts. Their per diem rates are pretty good.
Good luck!