North Texas = Few Jobs?

JaxiaKiley · Jul 23, 2006

I'm worried about signing a contract to pay for school just because I've never worked anywhere more than 2 years. So, if I work there while I am in school, and then sign a 2-3 year contract to get school paid for...

lol, I am a good Gemini and I am just not used to staying in the same place that long :)

gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP · Jul 23, 2006

The great thing about a big "chain" with lots of facilities and lots of departments is there is plenty of room to move around within the system and not lose bennies or break contracts :)

sunnyjohn · Jul 23, 2006

I'm worried about signing a contract to pay for school just because I've never worked anywhere more than 2 years. So, if I work there while I am in school, and then sign a 2-3 year contract to get school paid for...
lol, I am a good Gemini and I am just not used to staying in the same place that long :)

Jaxia,

I feel ya! I'm an Aquarius and I've never worked anywhere longer than 2.5 years. I didnt' really like the job, but the money was SOOOO good and the beneifts were so good they brought tears to my eyes! :lol2:

One thing, find out if your commitment contract has an 'out 'clause. If you leave before the end, some hospitals will allow you to pay back the money on a 'pro-rated' basis.

I have no problem setting aside an amount to cover that just in case......

lands1980 · Jul 23, 2006

To make it absolutely clear and you were first about private posts. You do not want to be contacted privately. I do not want to be contacted privately. This post is to GAUGE14IV from LANDS1980. Best wishes.

lands1980 · Jul 23, 2006

I agree that if you work short term and this works for you about long term committments. You can pay and get local area nursing education without years of service or payback conditions. Beware contracts with paybacks. Look at everyone's package. Parkland has some of the best nursing education I have ever experienced in my 22 years. I will be at a Emergency CME education this week at Southwestern. I catch as much Parkland education classes as possible. Barbara Minms Clark,director of the Critical Care Education has her own company in addition to her duties at Parkland. Great and frequent AHA and NRP classes. Please contact privately if you want more info.

I do not do Evil Empires like HCA and Tenet that promote poor staffing and wage fixing. That opinion is from 22 years of direct bedside experience and reading the papers. Read the public records of the lawsuits filed and the settlements by HCA and Tenet. I have many published books that support my statements.

You are right to take care of yourself.

RN34TX · Jul 24, 2006

So what are the issues with HCA facilities? I currently work for one and I love it there. As someone mentioned before the working conditions will vary from unit to unit. I know that HCA has had a lot of issues in the past, but it seems that they have attempted to correct those and win back their reputation. I am aware that they are a for profit hospital and there are a lot of people that refuse to work for a for profit hospital. I tend to be one of those naive nurses in that I just show up for work and do my job to the best of my ability and don't really know what goes on in upper management/adminstration. I feel that my working conditions are very good and I feel very supported by my manager and co-workers. I feel we are very patient focused at least in my unit. It bothers me when someone has a bad experience at one HCA facility and assumes all HCA facilities are bad. In reality all hospitals have there problems and shortcomings. I do personally know of some traveler/agency nurses that have been at certain HCA facilities and they did have an awful experience and intend to never go back, but please don't assume that all HCA facilities are the same.
I'm just curious what people have seen, heard, or experienced with HCA facilities that makes them so bad to work for.

To be fair to your comments, I worked with a nurse who worked for an HCA in Corpus. She said it was the best nursing job she ever had but left because of her husband's job transfer, otherwise she would still be there.

So yes, it may depend on the particular hospital, unit, and/or manager.

However, in my years of working in DFW, HCA fell second only to Kindred in terms of high numbers of nurses getting reported to the BNE and/or Group One as a blackmail/retaliation effort on the part of some rogue supervisor or administration.

I don't know about other areas, but in DWF, those two chains have always had a bad rep with both agency and full time staff alike.

I worked full time and agency all around Dallas for several years and no matter where I went or who I worked with, always heard bad stories about those two places.

In addition, I have my own experiences with those places and can confirm it all to be true.