Rumors of Merger

call the local newspaper and ask to speak to whoever covers the hospital beat. you'll get an answer there, or you'll set them to finding one.

Good idea, thanks.

Well, rumors aren't always true, but if you've heard more than one physician mention it, then there's probably some truth to it. They should be open and honest with you. Hopefully, if the merger does happen, it won't result in lay offs; depends on the kind of merger, I guess. I wouldn't worry about it, though; not much you can do, other than worry about it, which doesn't really do any good. Like you said, if it does happen, maybe your work environment will improve.

Most likely they are not allowed to talk about what little they do know. There was a pending merger here in my city and the middle management blew it by talking about it when they shouldn't have been (and as a result, most of them were fired. Since they didn't know who talked and they collectively blew a $200 million deal, they just fired them all). There is a lot of money at stake here, and until those details are ironed out, they don't want information made public. It isn't personal.

My first job out of nursing school was with a hospital that was owned by the suburban city it was located in. The city decided that they could not put enough money into the hospital to keep it competitive, so they decided to sell. Several groups vied for the hospital, including three groups that had multiple hospitals in the metropolitan area. In the end the city selected a company that had no other hospitals around, because they were concerned that the others would make my hospital (the only one in our part of the county) less than full service and tell people they could go to hospital X or Y for the other services. In the end, it worked out very well. The new company invested in the facility, and they replaced several managers who obtained their positions through connections to people in city government rather than ability.

This is part of the reality in nursing today. I have been on duty when two different facilities changed hands, and I discharged the last patient out a facility that was closed by the parent company. It has been an interesting ride.

Good luck to you.

The thing is we don't know if this would be a bad or a good thing. Our staffing has been cut to bare bones and to be honest the most recent hires are next to worthless. Our hours and benefits have been cut too. Perhaps it would be a better situation for us. I just want to know.