Mercy Residency Program

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2018

It's newer than ProMedica's. I know that because they did not have it back when I graduated and started as an RN at a Mercy hospital. I personally think the companies are very similar as I have worked at both companies.

I know St. Vincent's is union so keep that in mind. I have heard mixed things about the union. Mercy did try and screw a bunch of new nurses about four years ago when they cut the pay scale from 24 something to 20 something but they increased it back to 24 within six or seven months. St. Vincent's was not affected due to the union. I think Mercy pays more right now but keep in mind that both companies adjust their pay scales frequently to compete with each other because when I graduated about 4 years ago, it was the other way around where ProMedica paid significantly more.

You do make more money if you job change every few years which is very sad. As in nurses at Mercy were offered a 5 dollar increase to go to ProMedica based on the experience scale. However, brand new nurses at ProMedica were making similar amount to what I made after 2 years due to increases in the beginning pay scale.

Ultimately, very little difference between the two companies over all. It really depends on your unit. A horrible unit that is dysfunctional can break the system. I experienced that at a Mercy Hospital and it made life unbearable. The circumstances were pretty unique like that hospital combined units and restructured them instead of keeping them how they were. They opened a closed unit to facilitate with this restructuring so there had to be work done too. They also renumbered the entire inpatient hospital. The department I worked as a non-RN had no manager and the interim manager took a significant amount of staff members without replacing them when a new department opened. This caused lower morale. They then did start replacing staff members but hired only new staff because they would train them! Bad idea in an emergency room. You need a mix of staff.

Upstairs, I went to the inpatient side. They fired the administration and were trying to replace managers. They had the huge restructuring including closing the float pool and assigning the float pool members to units to get rid of the float pool bonus. They downsized the ICU at the time when the census picked up causing problems. The ICU experienced stress because they were forced to float and act like the float pool so people hated it. There was catty fighting of the experienced staff saying "I shouldn't have to float to the med-surg unit." In general, the hospital was a toxic environment. I think they have improved but I don't know for sure.

Tristen Johnson · Oct 18, 2019

So did you choose the RN residency at Mercy? I am in the same exact boat