Question about Pittsburgh Hospitals

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I'm from the Pittsburgh area. I moved to New Orleans, LA as a new grad and worked my first two years in a MICU as an RN and now I'm back and starting the job hunt. I'm just wondering about nurse satisfaction and really just what the nice hospitals that are good to their nurses are since I'm really not that familiar with the Pittsburgh Hospital systems. I hear really mixed things about UPMC and am hesitant to apply there. Any pieces of advice is appreciated. Thanks!

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Well, I'm going to be honest. WPAHS, the West Penn Allegheny Health System, is closing a large part of its operations at one of its cornerstone hospitals, and has already completely closed another hospital in its system. They're taking their internal transfers over to AGH first, before hiring from the outside. West Penn was the first magnet hospital in Pittsburgh, but now that the health system is laying off 1500 employees from that facility, I'm not sure they'll retain that status.

There are smaller independents in the South Hills, like Jefferson and St. Clair. I don't know much about them, but maybe someone will be able to speak to what it's like to work there.

UPMC is a mixed bag. Some facilities are nice, some aren't. Some units are nice, some aren't. Some managers are okay, some aren't. They are not union. WPAHS is. They are, however, hiring. And it seems like they're well on their way to becoming the biggest show in the city. I'd suggest applying, because you'll meet with the managers and they'll show you their units. You'll likely get a feel for what's okay and what you're not so thrilled with.

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For what it's worth, Western Psych has their nurses in the SEIU union.

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For what it's worth, Western Psych has their nurses in the SEIU union.

I forgot about that.

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Allegheny General Hospital is unionized. It has it's ups and downs just like anywhere. It is an older hospital and not all "new and beautiful" like the "mega-rich" UPMC facilities are. But-being union, you do get treated well. As far as safer ratios and support in case of any incidents. Also, I make more $ at WPAHS then UPMC could "afford" to offer me. Not bashing UPMC because of that though--if they would match my pay rate I would consider working for them, but I would always keep my foot in the door at AGH.

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Specializes in Trauma SICU.

It's hard to judge UPMC from one person's experiences because it is so large, and each hospital has their own policies. I work for Presby in medical records, and I go to nursing school at Mercy. I can say from my experiences that I get treated well, my benefits are excellent, my boss and HR worked with me when I had to take three weeks off due to illness and gave my STD benefits, and I'm loving school so far. There are just so many choices that I say apply and then do some research before picking a position.

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Specializes in CVICU/SICU.

I work for WPAHS. A good portion of my colleagues (nurses AND physicians) used to work for the Evil Empire. 'Nuff said.

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