Pros/Cons of VA Long Beach Healthcare System GNT Program?

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Jan 23, 2016

I had an interview a long time ago. They have great bennies but as anything with government the headaches with things you need can be substantial. Other issue to be aware of is they are not bound by California ratio law as they are a federal facility. Many don't know that going in and it was enough for me to decline the job offer.

carolynms · Feb 2, 2016

I was fortunate enough to be a graduate of VA Long Beach's GNT program. I still believe it was a great program for a number of reasons - lot of class room work, lot of hands on experience in the simulation lab, and the program I completed consisted of six people. Yay! This program also included a research program to help improve patient outcomes for the hospital. At the time, the program was very new, so it may have changed some since I completed it. Three months of mostly classroom work, three months of both, and then six more months of in unit training to complete their year long program. I felt very prepared by the end of the program and also felt very knowledgeable about the hospital system itself upon completion.

As for the hospital system itself, there certainly are some pros and cons.

Pros: small(ish) hospital if you like the "big fish, small pond" idea. Teaching hospital. When I was there, we were pushing forward for a lot more nursing control (shared governance and Pathway to Excellence). Benefits. The patient population :)

Cons: very, very, very tough system to get any real change. If a nurse was under performing or did not work well with other staff and patients, management basically had its hands tied to do anything about this.

*Remember: the VA property is FEDERAL property. Meaning, they do not have to abide by California State staffing levels...I still have nightmares about horrible staffing ratios (i.e. I am charge nurse with three patients and four LVN patients).

I started in their inpatient psychiatry unit and then went to med-surg.

HeyWhatsUP · Mar 18, 2016

@carolynms, BSN thank you for your response! how is the working environment there? does the staff generally work well as a team and are willing to help new RNs?

carolynms · Mar 20, 2016

It has been almost three years since I worked for the VA, and I believe a lot has changed. While I worked there, however, you had a mix. The psychiatry units had a very cohesive and team environment - I loved working there. On the medical units, I found the teamwork to also be very uplifting and supportive. There were your few rotten eggs who liked to eat their young, but I believe some of those individuals were heading towards retirement. There was a lot of new blood coming in as a I was leaving which was breathing new life into the units. South 8 particularly had great leaders - both younger and older. Sorry if this isn't current!