NICUs in Pittsburgh

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I will be a student at the University of Pittsburgh in August and am looking for jobs in Pittsburgh for my wife. I found NICUs at Magee, Mercy, Western Penn, Allegheny General, and Childrens. We're looking to move to the northern subs (traffic I heard is terrible from the south). Any opinions on these hospitals? Anyone working in any of the NICU's? Thanks for the info.

Charles

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Specializes in Neuro/Med-Surg/Oncology.

Hey Charles-

Welcome to the board! I'm not a NICU nurse, but lived in the northern suburbs and loved it. It's soooo convenient. It took me no more than 20 minutes to get to most places around town. South suburbs aren't too bad. There are a lot of back ways. The place to avoid is east. It takes at least 20 minutes to get ANYWHERE. I know people who work/have worked in NICU's in all of those places. A lot of people love Children's, but the pay is not so hot. They think the privilege of working for them is part of your compensation. You may want to look into Mercyand West Penn. West Penn has a weekend program where you work 2 12's on Sat and Sun and get paid for full time and get full time benefits. The catch is that it's every Sat/Sun. Mercy is good too. Please feel free to PM me with any other questions or info you need. Congratulations on Pitt too. What will you be studying?

Elizabeth

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

Sure you know this, but in terms of travel time, Allegheny General makes the most sense. OTOH, in terms of the most rewarding work, I have always thought if they I were going to be a NICU nurse, I'd want to do at a children's hospital and UPMC's is one of the best! Plus, I just love Oakland.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

Do any of you know - is Children's the only place that does neonatal surgery? I know that Magee does not ... and when I did my peds rotation at CHP and spent a day in the NICU, I believe this is what I was told.

Just curious ... :)

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Specializes in NICU.

I work at the Children's Home of Pittsburgh in Shadyside. It's the smallest free standing hospital in the US and has 11 beds. I wouldn't have considered it ( thinking it was something else ) except for the manager at Children's. I absolutely love it! It's a very home-like setting and is a level II. We get the kids that don't really need a level III any more, but aren't ready to go home. Nearly all the nurses are level III nurses with years of experience. It's the best group of people I've ever worked with. It is a very relaxed environment with a very high level of nurse decision making. We use primary nursing and a multidiscipinary approach. The doctor that worked with Fred Rodger's on the book about going to the doctor is the man that started it. It has been the absolutely best place I've ever worked, and probably the best kept secret in NICU nursing. It's nice to look forward to going to work for a change. And I'm not the only one that loves it, pretty much everyone I work with does, too. We currently have an opening. Best wishes to your wife, and welcome to Pittsburgh. Having travelled extensively, it's still one of my favorite cities.

I interviewed at Children's, but as my mother taught me, if you don't have anything nice to say.... Magee is over staffed, and West Penn only has/had openings for their week-end program. I sent an application to AGH when I moved to Pitt., but they never bothered to reply, and I have 12 years of NICU experience. Mercy is very dated, supposedly planning to remodel, but rarely has full time openings. Someone I currently work with that does part-time there gets floated out frequently. Hope this helps.

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