Questions about hospitals in Kansas City area and agency nursing

[geekgolightly]

Anyone here work in the Kansas City area/Lawrence area (west Kansas City) and can tell me of a decent hospital to work in? What about agency nursing in that area... what agencies are utilised in this area that I could call for a job, so that I may float around a bit before settling down? When I move to KC/Lawrence, I will have one year experience in Neuroscience, but am flexible about what area I work in as long as the area is well staffed and organized (haha)

Thanks for anyones help.

xoxoxox

kathy

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

I worked at KU Med (in research) from 95 to 2001. I really liked it -- great benefits and the research groups followed the school schedule (so great holidays off, a week over Christmas), plus 5 weeks vacation a year. If you are interested in research nursing, there are many opportunities there.

Plus the RNs and MDs I worked with in Psychiatry were the BEST!

that's an interesting idea. i am upset about having to leave my new son while i am working an erratic schedule. i hadn't considered research nursing.

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

I just wanted to give a quick update. I am in KC and have interviewed with St. Luke's today and wanted to thank some of you in this thread for directing me there. St. Luke's on the Plaza seems to be an amazing place to work and I hope they hire me. The staff, hr, and nursing director all seemed very conscientious and caring and very concerned about the welfare of the patients as well as wanting to take care of the nurses. The ratio for neuro patients is 1:5 max, which is a blessing because the last place I worked had a 1:7 max ratio. Everyone seems friendly and they offer lots of education opportunities. I'll keep updating in this thread to let you all know how it goes.

[ksrnstudent]

I hope you get the job you want at St. Luke's. I have heard only great things about them. KC is a nice town with great restaurants, culture, and people. I wish you the best of luck! Keep us posted on your progress.

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

I hope you get the job you want at St. Luke's. I have heard only great things about them. KC is a nice town with great restaurants, culture, and people. I wish you the best of luck! Keep us posted on your progress.

I got the position I wanted at St. Luke's and I feel as though I am in nursing heaven. It is luxurious here. They treat the nurses really well. We have shared governance and a CEO and Medical Director who back nurses 110%. It's really amazing. I think that this impacts daily patient care tremendously, as the nurses really do seem happy here. The biggest bedside plus are the ratios. RN 5:1 max on my neuro floor, usually 4:1, with PCT's doing all blood draws, EKGs, baths, linen changes, feeding, vitals, sugars and answering the call light. We assess, and coordinate care = our patients are well cared for.

I am also given many education opportunities. During orientation I am encouraged to see any procedure I want and we are paid for all of our CEU lectures.

[Kireri]

I live the Kansas City and have worked or know nurses at many of the hospitals in the metro.

St Lukes, Research, and Truman on the Mo side are good teaching facilities

on the Kansas side KU med is where I am (and I am very happy there), another teaching facility and a level 1 trauma center. Shawnee Mission, Olathe Med Ctr are very good also.

There is a lot of agency work available....

my recommendation....hmmmm, stay away from any HCA facility. :chair:

good luck

[eddy]

What a post. It goes all the way back to 2003! :)

Wow! I have to say my opinions of many of the hospitals on my previous list have greatly changed since then.... but they all have one thing in common. They are all HCA's. The HCA hospitals in general have REALLY gone down hill since All About Staffing came in. I have never seen such a shortage of nurses! When they came in they reduced pay to all the subcontracting agencies big time. For me it was a significant cut in pay. Needless to say, I've chosen not to work at HCA hospitals until they get things back on track. Most of the best agency nurses in the area have decided to do the same. Oh, and then let's talk about all the insane time they expect an agency nurse to put in UNPAID for orientations, inservices, new forms by the week to sign, and everything else!!! These All About Staffing people are absolutely nuts! As a result, HCA hospitals are getting fewer qualified agency nurses and as I've heard from many friends who are staff at HCA facilities, the nurses that do go these days are mostly pretty mediocre at best, and ultimately the staff and patients are suffering because of it. Most of them are looking for new jobs as we speak. They really have messed up the HCA facilities in my opinion and I can't say now that I would recommend a single one. That's really a shame. Those were some of my favorite places to work.

Luckily my agency has plenty of other hospitals, so it's not a problem. I'm still getting paid what I deserve at hospitals that don't CUT wages.

I sure hope HCA turns it around though. Our community really depends on them, and like I said, they used to be some of the best places to work at and receive care in KC.

[ljds]

So what agency do you recommend? I have signed on with Superior Healthcare Staffing, but I am not really impressed. Though I'm new to the agency nursing world, and wondering if my problems are more of an HCA thing than a problem with the agency itself.

Have you heard of Maxim? Do you still recommend Cascade?

I am an IV certified LPN, with experience mainly in L&D, mother/baby, and the office, though I have worked on the medical floor at LMH in Lawrence, and at a nursing home.

I'm in Lawrence, and have no problem travelling a bit for my shift. I don't really want to go all the way to KCMO, but I will if the money and facility are right!

Thanks,

Lori

[kastas, BSN, RN]

So what agency do you recommend? I have signed on with Superior Healthcare Staffing, but I am not really impressed. Though I'm new to the agency nursing world, and wondering if my problems are more of an HCA thing than a problem with the agency itself.

Have you heard of Maxim? Do you still recommend Cascade?

I am an IV certified LPN, with experience mainly in L&D, mother/baby, and the office, though I have worked on the medical floor at LMH in Lawrence, and at a nursing home.

I'm in Lawrence, and have no problem travelling a bit for my shift. I don't really want to go all the way to KCMO, but I will if the money and facility are right!

Thanks,

Lori

Lori, Don't know if you're interested in going back to LMH, but the prn pay is pretty good. I make more there, prn, then I do at my full time job when I get on-call pay. I also make just barely less then I would agency (or so I hear, never did agency). Of course this is with night shift and weekend diff. Good luck!

[ljds]

Lori, Don't know if you're interested in going back to LMH, but the prn pay is pretty good. I make more there, prn, then I do at my full time job when I get on-call pay. I also make just barely less then I would agency (or so I hear, never did agency). Of course this is with night shift and weekend diff. Good luck!

Where do you work in LMH? 2nd Med, 3rd Surg, SNF? If the pay wasn't too bad, I would be interested. Do you work 8s or 12s?

Lori

[kastas, BSN, RN]

Where do you work in LMH? 2nd Med, 3rd Surg, SNF? If the pay wasn't too bad, I would be interested. Do you work 8s or 12s?

Lori

I'll pm you.

[eddy]

So what agency do you recommend? I have signed on with Superior Healthcare Staffing, but I am not really impressed. Though I'm new to the agency nursing world, and wondering if my problems are more of an HCA thing than a problem with the agency itself.

Have you heard of Maxim? Do you still recommend Cascade?

I am an IV certified LPN, with experience mainly in L&D, mother/baby, and the office, though I have worked on the medical floor at LMH in Lawrence, and at a nursing home.

I'm in Lawrence, and have no problem travelling a bit for my shift. I don't really want to go all the way to KCMO, but I will if the money and facility are right!

Thanks,

Lori

I haven't heard much about Superior for a long time. They used to be one of the bigger ones in town back about 5 or 6 years ago, but I think they have pretty much fallen to the wayside since then. Take that for what it's worth. I just don't see too many people with Superior name badges on any more. I don't care for Maxim. Just my opinion, but they don't seem to enjoy the best reputation in town.

I've been with Cascade for years. At this point unless something pretty drastic were to happen, I don't see myself leaving. They are one of the oldest agencies in town, staff about every facility in the area (including all the HCA's if you are into that. not me. They have a lot better places they can send you trust me.), good pay and outstanding benefits for agency, etc. They've been great to me, and I consider many of the office people to be close friends. I think they are probably the largest agency in KC yet they're locally owned (makes a big difference when you have concerns or things that need to be addressed right away). Karen, Chris and Tonja are wonderful out of the KC office. Mindy and Linda are a real joy to work with out of the Topeka office.

Favorite Nurses is a good place too. I have several friends who work for them, and I used to also. They seem to share the same high ethical standards as Cascade, which in my honest opinion is pretty lacking in the KC market. They also pay really good. I know Favorite doesn't do HCA though. The rumor has it that they disagreed with the rate cuts and told All About Staffing to stick it where the sun don't shine. Good for them!

Anyway, I wouldn't feel bad at all pointing you toward Cascade or Favorite. I think you'd be happy with both. Although I'm pulling for Cascade (my buds). Probably more convenient for you also since you are in Lawrence.