Philly hospital job comparison...

[xoxo1970]

Soooo I've been employed at Jefferson in philly for 16 years, my whole career. I've worked on med/surg, ED, and step down tele. I'm thinking of leaving for many reasons and wanted opinions of other nurses on working for other area hospitals, especially Temple or Penn, but any input is welcome! We hear rumors about better working conditions or better pay or better benefits. I know that the grass may seem greener when really it isn't...

My biggest gripe with Jeff: They are chronically short staffed, so much so that they often don't have enough staff to let us use our time off. We "accrue" 4 weeks vacations plus holiday time. Actually using it is another story. I've accumulated over 700 hours unused time because I don't call out sick much. If I left I would only get paid out 80-140 hours of that time.

-We don't get a raise every year. Most years we do, but it is not guaranteed.

-we sometimes have to close available rooms due to not having enough staff to take patients

-We have 5:1 pt/staff ratio on tele and in ED. It's higher on med/surg.

- I pay about $200+/month for me and one other person for health insurance. Co-pays are much higher if I don't go to jefferson docs.

- tuition reimbursement is $5,000-$7,000 a year, has been the same for 16 years.

-we have a 20% night shift diff. putting my hourly wage in the mid $40s

Again I've only worked at this institution. I don't think Jeff is a horrible place to work. I work with many smart and capable nurses who do their best under stressful circumstances to provided good patient care. I know nursing is a hard job where ever you work.

Anyone in Philly love or hate the hospital where you work and why?? I'd like to hear your opinion.

[DextersDisciple, BSN, RN]

The only negative things I noticed in your post are short staffing and inability to use ETO-which unfortunately I feel like happens everywhere you go. At least management actually closes beds instead of upping ratios. But these are still big issues especially not being able to use hard earned ETO. I'd refer back to policies and HR and see if management is actually allowed to deny so much approved ETO.

$200 a month for two people? I paid over $200 for just myself with high copays in a much smaller than anticipated network. 20% shift diff, up to $7k in tuition reimbursement and so far raises almost every year?

Grass sounds pretty green to me!

[xoxo1970]

Thanks for your input!