Kindred in Boston area

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab.

I'm a nursing student who is graduating with my ASN in May. I found out recently that my employer who I've been loyal to for 5 years will not hire a new grad with an ASN degree (but they did welcome me to re-apply with a years experience). So I'm off to look elsewhere. As we all know, the job market is brutal in Boston. My husband is not willing to move to another area of the country until I've exhausted all my opportunities here in eastern Mass.

I've talked to a few friends who have been in the field for a couple of years, and they've had some great suggestions for me. One got her start in a dialysis center. Another worked at Kindred, which owns rehab hospitals and nursing homes all around the area. My friend had a decent experience at her location, and while she said it was a lot of work, she did learn a lot and is now able to get a job anywhere she wants. But on these message boards, I can't find ANY positive posts about Kindred. Is it really a bad company to work for? I don't want to hold out for a position at one of the big Boston hospitals (which is unlikely with my ASN) if I can more easily find a job short-term in a dialysis center or rehab hospital. Isn't this what our instructors meant by not being picky?

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ER.

I worked at Kindred and I can tell you it's a dangerous place to work. Dangerously short staffed, dangerously inexperienced nurses, dangerous amount of travel nurses, dangerous patient load. The turnaround is extremely high, which means that very few people stick around to know what they're doing. The ones who have been there a long time are generally nasty and eat their young. Kindred is also an ICU reject dumping ground. When a patient's short-term insurance runs out, they get sent to an LTAC like Kindred. It doesn't mean they're stable enough to be transferred, that they should be out of the ICU, it just means insurance won't pay for them to stay there anymore (usually because they are going to die but there is an ethical complication...aka the families refuse to withdraw support), so they come to Kindred as a full code and end up being kept alive much longer than what's fair to the patient, and often dies a miserable death being coded over and over. Sometimes they come for hospice, and once in awhile they are able to be weaned from the vent and are rehabilitated enough for discharge. I think one of the most dangerous aspects of working here is that the house officer doesn't stay in house. The nurses run the codes start to finish a lot of the time. if you work there you will see some interesting things, though, as well as many things that will break your heart. I saw necrotizing fasciitis, a 38 year old woman die of ALS with her young children and husband by her side, DIC, multiple rare neuro cases. Lots of heartbreak. Spouses who have been married for 40/50 years who just can't give up on their loved one. It's hard, back-breaking work, as most patients are dependent. However, if you can stick it out a year or two there, you can make it anywhere, especially in an ICU.

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Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.

Kindred is good for the experience. They are always looking for RN's and gladly hire new grads. You could have your pick of departments, get good training and leave after one year if it doesn't work out. Anyone can do anything for a year...and no one can take away your experience. Just remember, Kindred is a giant corporation and with such, comes a political machine. Peace!

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How well does Kindred pay? They want to talk to me for an ICU night position. I have almost 10 years of experience and currently not working. I need something but I am afraid of that kind of environment after doing level 1 trauma in teaching hospitals. I think it may be too depressing and don't want my license at risk.

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Does anyone know if they have recently hired any new grads? and do they hire ADN new grads?

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Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.

They hire anyone with breath.

Google them, there are 100's of jobs throughout MA. And more added daily. They fully train you though, so if you can do 6 months to one year, you are good to go. But they are brutal.

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They hire anyone with breath.

I put my application in Tuesday night, it has been 4 days... maybe they just take a little time? I might have to call them and let them know that I am still breathing.. haha.

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I worked at Kindred and I can tell you it's a dangerous place to work. Dangerously short staffed, dangerously inexperienced nurses, dangerous amount of travel nurses, dangerous patient load. The turnaround is extremely high, which means that very few people stick around to know what they're doing. The ones who have been there a long time are generally nasty and eat their young. Kindred is also an ICU reject dumping ground. When a patient's short-term insurance runs out, they get sent to an LTAC like Kindred. It doesn't mean they're stable enough to be transferred, that they should be out of the ICU, it just means insurance won't pay for them to stay there anymore (usually because they are going to die but there is an ethical complication...aka the families refuse to withdraw support), so they come to Kindred as a full code and end up being kept alive much longer than what's fair to the patient, and often dies a miserable death being coded over and over. Sometimes they come for hospice, and once in awhile they are able to be weaned from the vent and are rehabilitated enough for discharge. I think one of the most dangerous aspects of working here is that the house officer doesn't stay in house. The nurses run the codes start to finish a lot of the time. if you work there you will see some interesting things, though, as well as many things that will break your heart. I saw necrotizing fasciitis, a 38 year old woman die of ALS with her young children and husband by her side, DIC, multiple rare neuro cases. Lots of heartbreak. Spouses who have been married for 40/50 years who just can't give up on their loved one. It's hard, back-breaking work, as most patients are dependent. However, if you can stick it out a year or two there, you can make it anywhere, especially in an ICU.

Listen to this nurse-she knows what she is talking about!!! Don't go to Kindred unless you want to risk losing your nursing license.

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I am freakin out because I graduate next week and the prospective job market does not look good at all especially with an ADN. I was thinking of applying to the Sub acute hospital in Stoughton to maybe still have a chance of getting my med surg experience out of the way (want to eventually go into psych or community). I have a friend who worked there as a new grad awhile back and she said it was awesome experience (still alot of work though). She encouraged me to apply there because its flexible and you learn SOOO much. I am scared to apply now!!!

I did my med surg rotations on a tele floor and let me tell you it was HARD. Every patient I had was extremely complicated and usually got sent to ICU. I was crying every night in the beginning. But slowly it started to click and its a piece of cake now (well maybe not a piece of cake).

I wouldn't mind having challenging patients because I feel like that is all I ever had but I am worried about the support given for new grads. Does anyone know if they offer good support for new grads and how long the orientation is? If good support is given I might still apply. I don't think I could handle it if there wasn't good support.

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Try the New England Rehab Hospitals. They take new hires and have lots of openings all over the place.

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YIKES! I am an LPN at the moment. I have left my clinic nursing job to try to get LTC/Rehab/Acute experience to advance my career and help me get into an RN program.

I just got hired at a North Shore Kindred. I start orientation next week. This post makes me a little nervous! Not to mention the Nursing Director said there's a chance I may be working nights until a day/eve position opens :-\ I pay is good, they matched what I make here at my current job + 4$ extra for eve/nights. I suppose I should not be too worried and give it a chance...? Ask a lot of questions and pay attention during orientation. They said the orientation is lengthly. I am hoping that is true. The only LTC/Rehab exp. I have is from back in 2009 in Nursing school. I do not pass meds in the clinic but do a lot of clinical treatments(wound care, dressings, phlebotomy, etc etc). I would never want to put my license at risk, that's what I am most nervous about. OH BOY!

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Not only did I feel like I was putting my license at risk by working at Kinded, by the end of six months I didn't even want to be a nurse anymore. Took a long time to bounce back from my Kindred experience. I'm very happy now in my current job though.

In addition to all the other issues mentioned by other posters my experience was that they were having census problems and cancelled people right and left. Getting cancelled from a 12-hour shift with a moment's notice (so you can't pick something up elsewhere) is a huge loss of income that cannot be replaced. One month I was cancelled from three shifts -- that was an entire week's worth of pay. I blew through all my hard-earned PTO time just to cover those losses and then had no way to cover them at all and ended up in a pretty bad situation financially.

You do pick up a lot of good skills and see a lot of complex medical issues though. Not sure if it's worth it, all things considered.

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