I work in a 420+ bed Level 1 Trauma Center teaching hospital, so don't start thinking this is some small community hospital as you're reading this. For YEARS, the cafeteria has been open from 1:30am until 3:30 am for staff. Being a large facility, a fair share of patient families staying the night also avail themselves to the services of the cafeteria.
Next week they are ending cafeteria service and will have vending machines with sandwiches and salads available. Needless to say everyone is in a tizzy over this. It's supposedly a cost-saving measure. If closing the cafeteria saves my job from being cut, I guess I'm not going to complain too much. But if they are cutting that deep, what's next certainly begs the question.
Our competitor hospital across town, also a Level 1 center, has a coffee shop AND a cafeteria open until 3 AM for their employees. There is a separate cafe in the Children's Hospital as well that is open until 3AM.
I'm just curious what night shifters working in similar sized facilities have available to them.
