gennylyn

I currently work at St Dominic's on one of there telemetry units. I've worked there pretty much since I got out of school in 98. I enjoy it there because I not only enjoy the people I work with but we work well together as a team. I think that administration is pretty much the same everywhere here in Jackson ---- crappy!! I took a job at the VA recently for six months because of pay. They pay more if you have your BS, where other hospitals don't. However the management was lousy!! After six months I gladly took a $3.50/hr pay cut and went back to St Domonics where I work a set schedule Mon-Thurs nights one week, Mon-Wed the next and have every weekend off. St D's has a weekend program were nurses only work weekends, therefor I'm not obligated to work the usually "every-other weekend". When I got out of school I was working nights and having anywhere from 6-9 pts on the telemetry floor. Now the max is 6, which is not bad at all, considering most nights I only have 5, and some nights I only have 4. Now from my understanding it is not like that on every floor in the hospital, but the cardiac floors hang and titrate a lot of IV cardiac drugs so they have lowered our nurse patient ratio. I think most hospitals in the area are giving sign on bonus and are very competive in their pay. Meaning when one hospital gives an "across the board raise" the other hospital give one as well. I know that St Dominic's is giving $5000 with a two year obligation. You get the first $1000 on your first pay check then, $1000 every six months for two years. I feel that St Dominic's is one of the best hospitals in the area, if not the best! However, if you are looking to work in peds, we don't do much there with children. We do have an L&D with a nursery and NICU but that's it. We tend to specialize in Hearts. You may accually like taking care of heart patients (critically or on the floor). I never imagined that I would ever work in this area---but know it's all I know and it's all I'll do! I wanted to go into L&D when I got out of school but St D's have a L&D unit then, so I went to work on the tele floor and have loved it ever since. Good luck with school and your new career as a RN!!! Remember to CARE!!!

Would like to know where you are? I started out making $14.05 not including night diffs but now after 5 1/2 years make $20.63 without diffs. I'm not required to work weekends, just mon-thurs night (12 hour shifts). So there's a plus, and I get 16 hours of paid overtime.:roll