RNs in City of Hope, CA

shy_nurse604 · Dec 23, 2005

Hi there,

I will be starting the new grad program at COH on Feb. 20th. I will be working on the peds unit.

The only opinion I have so far is that the HR department is a mess. There was a lot of miscommunication between the HR people, the peds manager and myself. In the midst of trying to find out what was happening to my file, 1 HR person quit and another one was fired, the peds manager quit and another one hired. My file was passed around and I couldn't get any answers to my questions. It wasn't until a few days ago that I got my employment letter for my working visa and I've been working on this since June!!!

I really hope this hospital lives up to my expectations. I'll be able to give you more info once I'm there!!!

Good luck!!!

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Dec 23, 2005

Hey, guys! I live about 5 miles from City of Hope. We just had my mother there last year for her chemo and radiation therapy. I also worked there through agency when I needed extra money. It's a awesome, huge place and I'm not surprised to hear that shy-nurse604 ran into a bit of a mess. Everywhere we went in the place with my mother there were often swarms of people. It is a very busy place. They score very high on the surveys for patient care and customer service, so you'll want to smile and always be friendly. There is a lot of work for every nurse who works there. The patient acuity of the inpatients is high. These are cancer patients many of whom need a lot of nursing assistance. You will also be exposed to a lot of patient families. People come from all over the world for treatment here and there are cottages on the campus for the families to stay in. All the nurses I ever worked with were very nice, but that was my experience. I do think that they are picky about who they hire. I have run into a number of nurses working in the local hospitals who have tried to get work there. If you lean a bit toward the side of workaholic you should be OK. You will probably see some new surgeries and experimental treatments being done there as well. If you are going to be floated around it might be a little hard because the staff of each nursing unit will be following the protocols of physicians who primarily have patients on those units as well as following research protocols for certain medications and treatments. Most of the doctors are on staff and do not have outside practices. There are some physicians from the community who do have privileges there, but for the most part you are going to be working with their staff doctors, many of whom are involved in research of one sort or another. I'm not clear as to whether there are interns and resident doctors there. I am sure there are fellowships in certain specialities, however.

It's definitely going to be a lot nicer here in southern L.A. than Wisconsin! We don't get snow. If you want to see snow you only have to look up to the peaks of the Angeles National Forest any time of the day. You won't miss it though. Weather here is running about 40-50 at night and 70 for the day's highs. If you decide to come here and have some time I would be thrilled to take you out to lunch sometime.

shy_nurse604 · Dec 30, 2005

Hey, guys! I live about 5 miles from City of Hope. We just had my mother there last year for her chemo and radiation therapy. I also worked there through agency when I needed extra money. It's a awesome, huge place and I'm not surprised to hear that shy-nurse604 ran into a bit of a mess. Everywhere we went in the place with my mother there were often swarms of people. It is a very busy place. They score very high on the surveys for patient care and customer service, so you'll want to smile and always be friendly. There is a lot of work for every nurse who works there. The patient acuity of the inpatients is high. These are cancer patients many of whom need a lot of nursing assistance. You will also be exposed to a lot of patient families. People come from all over the world for treatment here and there are cottages on the campus for the families to stay in. All the nurses I ever worked with were very nice, but that was my experience. I do think that they are picky about who they hire. I have run into a number of nurses working in the local hospitals who have tried to get work there. If you lean a bit toward the side of workaholic you should be OK. You will probably see some new surgeries and experimental treatments being done there as well. If you are going to be floated around it might be a little hard because the staff of each nursing unit will be following the protocols of physicians who primarily have patients on those units as well as following research protocols for certain medications and treatments. Most of the doctors are on staff and do not have outside practices. There are some physicians from the community who do have privileges there, but for the most part you are going to be working with their staff doctors, many of whom are involved in research of one sort or another. I'm not clear as to whether there are interns and resident doctors there. I am sure there are fellowships in certain specialities, however.
It's definitely going to be a lot nicer here in southern L.A. than Wisconsin! We don't get snow. If you want to see snow you only have to look up to the peaks of the Angeles National Forest any time of the day. You won't miss it though. Weather here is running about 40-50 at night and 70 for the day's highs. If you decide to come here and have some time I would be thrilled to take you out to lunch sometime.

Hi Daytonite,

Happy New Year!!!

I'm leaving for South Pasadena tomorrow morning and I will be working at City of Hope. So what's the scoop on the area (Duarte)? Anything interesting/exciting I should be aware of? What's the housing/apartment situation like? Ideally, I'd like to find a place really close by since I'm going to be working full-time nights.

Sorry for so many questions!

Marianne

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2005

Happy New Year yourself, shy_nurse604! Duarte is a beautiful little city. You'll have a mountain view. Duarte is very proud of it's town. Lots of shopping all around Duarte, Monrovia. Nice shops in South Pasadena too. You should be able to find an apartment. When you get to town get a copy of the free apartment guides that are on the stands in the lobbies of the supermarkets. There are a lot of motels along Huntington Avenue going through Duarte (scenic route 66).

South Pasadena is a very nice community as well. I'm assuming you have a place to stay there because it is more of an residential community.

This is a big weekend, kiddo. Tournament of Roses Parade. Rose Bowl. Also, the Santa Anita Racetrack is open, so the traffic can back up on the main roads, particularly on I-210, the Foothill Freeway. So, be careful when you are driving and keep in mind that it may be congested. If you haven't caught the weather reports, there are two Pacific storms making their way to the coast, so bring some rain gear with you. The sky has been overcase for several days now. If it's wet and raining when you drive, go slow so you don't hydroplane and get into an accident on any roads. Don't know where you are coming from, but if you've never driven in bumper to bumper traffic on the freeways here, it's usually a eye-opener. On the assumption that you may not have experienced traffic like that, just remember that everyone is in the same boat, so just settle in, go slow, put on some tunes and chill. There's no use trying to beat everybody else on the road--too dangerous for your life.

If you want to try your hand at going to see the Tournament of Roses Parade you will have to pretty much camp out on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena to get a good viewing spot. They will park the floats after the parade for public viewing somewhere in Pasadena. I know for sure that Duarte is working on a couple of the floats over on Buena Vista Avenue in Duarte at the city health department because my sister-in-law snuck in and got a look at them the other day. I don't think they move the floats over to the parade starting area in Pasadena over on Orange Grove Avenue until Sunday night. The traffic going into Pasadena will be the worst kind of back up you can imagine for the parade and the Rose Bowl. Plus, Colorado Blvd. which is a main road going through Pasadena will be closed for the parade.

I'm PM'ing you my e-mail and phone number.