St. Alexius Bismark,ND

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Hello Nurses,

I wanted to get some input about St. Alexis. I'm thinking about relocated to Bismark, ND. How is your experience so far?

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Hi there! I just started working at St. A's a couple of weeks ago, and I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the hospital or relocating.

Just some general info... I really like my floor and the hospital overall. People are friendly and helpful. As a new associate you'll attend a general hospital orientation, a new nurse orientation, computer orientation, and a nursing skills lab. You may start working before you attend all those, but that's ok because you start out mostly shadowing your nurse anyway. The nursing educator will check up with you after 15, 30, and 60 days to see how orientation is going, and you can add more time to your orientation if you feel like you aren't ready to be on your own. I've worked five 7AM-7PM shifts so far. Tomorrow is my first day of 3 weeks of night shifts. (Most people on my unit rotate between day and night shifts; however, I've been told that if you want to do straight nights, you probably could. I don't think straight days is an option, but don't quote me on that.)

I had a really tough time finding a place to live because I have a big dog, so my rental options were limited. It took me about 6 weeks to find a place, and I had to rent it sight-unseen. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but I was desperate, didn't know anyone here, and couldn't fly out beforehand to check out rentals. I drove here with my family; we took our time and made it here in 4 days from the bay area. Living in Bismarck is quite different from Norcal. It takes only 10 to 20 minutes to get anywhere, and traffic is practically non-existent compared to back home. I miss Trader Joe's and Ranch 99, but I can find most of what I'm looking for out here.

Again, please feel free to ask me questions. I hope this helps! And good luck to you!

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I can't send PM's just yet, but if you'll send me a PM with your email address I can write you back.

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Hi there! I sent an email to the address you provided, but got a message saying it was the wrong person...

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Hi there! I just started working at St. A's a couple of weeks ago, and I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the hospital or relocating.

Just some general info... I really like my floor and the hospital overall. People are friendly and helpful. As a new associate you'll attend a general hospital orientation, a new nurse orientation, computer orientation, and a nursing skills lab. You may start working before you attend all those, but that's ok because you start out mostly shadowing your nurse anyway. The nursing educator will check up with you after 15, 30, and 60 days to see how orientation is going, and you can add more time to your orientation if you feel like you aren't ready to be on your own. I've worked five 7AM-7PM shifts so far. Tomorrow is my first day of 3 weeks of night shifts. (Most people on my unit rotate between day and night shifts; however, I've been told that if you want to do straight nights, you probably could. I don't think straight days is an option, but don't quote me on that.)

I had a really tough time finding a place to live because I have a big dog, so my rental options were limited. It took me about 6 weeks to find a place, and I had to rent it sight-unseen. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but I was desperate, didn't know anyone here, and couldn't fly out beforehand to check out rentals. I drove here with my family; we took our time and made it here in 4 days from the bay area. Living in Bismarck is quite different from Norcal. It takes only 10 to 20 minutes to get anywhere, and traffic is practically non-existent compared to back home. I miss Trader Joe's and Ranch 99, but I can find most of what I'm looking for out here.

Again, please feel free to ask me questions. I hope this helps! And good luck to you!

What is the pay like? What incentives they offer for overtime?

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Pay is around $23 a hour which is low for the area. It's probably low since they know that most will leave after 1 year of employment including me. Night shift and weekend differential is really low (around $1.50 each). I work in Med-Surg. If you work during the day, you are assigned 3-4 patients but you get a lot of discharges and new patients. At the end of the day your up to 5-6 patients. For night shift you have around 5-6 patients but usually only one CNA or no CNA for the entire floor, so your answering call lights all night long. If your the rookie, the experienced nurses expect you to answer the lights...they glare at you if you don't. Half of the employees are travel nurses and most won't get up for call lights. As you can tell, I'm getting tired of answering call lights, gowning up (seems like everybody has MRSA), wiping butts, and changing sheets with feces and urine all over them. I have to work 1-2 hours extra everyday to catch up on my charting since I'm running around all night answering call lights. St. Alexius uses McKesson charting which is terrible. The good part...they will hire anybody with a pulse and a license except in ER, ICU, and OR.

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Pay is around $23 a hour which is low for the area. It's probably low since they know that most will leave after 1 year of employment including me. Night shift and weekend differential is really low (around $1.50 each). I work in Med-Surg. If you work during the day, you are assigned 3-4 patients but you get a lot of discharges and new patients. At the end of the day your up to 5-6 patients. For night shift you have around 5-6 patients but usually only one CNA or no CNA for the entire floor, so your answering call lights all night long. If your the rookie, the experienced nurses expect you to answer the lights...they glare at you if you don't. Half of the employees are travel nurses and most won't get up for call lights. As you can tell, I'm getting tired of answering call lights, gowning up (seems like everybody has MRSA), wiping butts, and changing sheets with feces and urine all over them. I have to work 1-2 hours extra everyday to catch up on my charting since I'm running around all night answering call lights. St. Alexius uses McKesson charting which is terrible. The good part...they will hire anybody with a pulse and a license except in ER, ICU, and OR.

Thank you for the in-deep information. A little horrible about the night shift since thats what I was planning to apply for.

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Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.
Pay is around $23 a hour which is low for the area. It's probably low since they know that most will leave after 1 year of employment including me. Night shift and weekend differential is really low (around $1.50 each). I work in Med-Surg. If you work during the day, you are assigned 3-4 patients but you get a lot of discharges and new patients. At the end of the day your up to 5-6 patients. For night shift you have around 5-6 patients but usually only one CNA or no CNA for the entire floor, so your answering call lights all night long. If your the rookie, the experienced nurses expect you to answer the lights...they glare at you if you don't. Half of the employees are travel nurses and most won't get up for call lights. As you can tell, I'm getting tired of answering call lights, gowning up (seems like everybody has MRSA), wiping butts, and changing sheets with feces and urine all over them. I have to work 1-2 hours extra everyday to catch up on my charting since I'm running around all night answering call lights. St. Alexius uses McKesson charting which is terrible. The good part...they will hire anybody with a pulse and a license except in ER, ICU, and OR.

Dont get me wrong. I am tired of working in ND, but I think you are over exaggerating the amount of travelers there. Not all the travelers are harsh.

Evening/night differential is 3.00. Which is a little odd that it applies to Aides as well. I dont know who you are working with, my experience isnt as bad as yours.

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Hi, I saw this post and I actually just applied to St. Alexius today. I'm from Missouri, so I don't know much about the hospitals in North Dakota.

I don't know if there is a difference in pay by unit, but do you know what a BSN-RN new grad would make on the TCU?

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Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.
Hi, I saw this post and I actually just applied to St. Alexius today. I'm from Missouri, so I don't know much about the hospitals in North Dakota.

I don't know if there is a difference in pay by unit, but do you know what a BSN-RN new grad would make on the TCU?

I believe the pay is the same across the board for new grads. Bsn Will not get you extra money. Also the units pay the same I believe.

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Hi all,

I appreciate reading about your experiences at St. A's. I know that no one can predict the future, but for those of you who are working there right now, do you think they'll still be hiring new grads (without a bsn) in the next couple years?

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